Kalashnikov lends name to energy drinks and snowboards

Cory Doctorow 8:46 am Wed Feb 19, 2003

Mikhail "AK-47" Kalashnikov is flat broke, so he's licensing his name out for use as a branding tool for a line of sleek German consumables.

'Kalashnikov' has long set the standard for powerful rifles, but if elderly Russian inventor Mikhail Kalashnikov gets his way the famous name will soon be linked to umbrellas, watches and even aftershave.

The inventor has formed an unlikely alliance with a small German company that wants to attach the Kalashnikov brand to a range of ordinary consumer goods that could also include snowboards, halogen lamps, pocket-knives and energy drinks.

Kalashnikov, 83, has been living on a state pension in a two-room Russian apartment and never saw any royalties on his famous AK-47 assault rifle, which he developed in 1947 while convalescing from injuries sustained in World War Two.

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(Thanks, Cleetus X)

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