It's unusual to find fake Leica I standard. Most fake Leicas are copies of a Leica II. Rick Oleson has a great article on how to spot a fake Leica II at http://rick_oleson.tripod.com/index-213.html. The Soviet Union started making copies of Leica cameras in the 1930s. Patent law was on again/off again in the USSR, mainly off while the Communists were in power. Inventions were state property and they were in a cold war with the rest of the world, so why honor other countries'