Both Ricoh and Pentax cameras have come from the same company for fifteen years – but now records suggest Ricoh doesn’t just own the Pentax line of DSLRs and lenses, but the rights to the Pentax name itself. When Ricoh bought Pentax in 2011, Hoya retained ownership of the Pentax name and licensed the name to Ricoh. But, record databases are now showing that Ricoh, not Hoya, owns the Pentax brand for cameras and lenses. In 2019, one particular rumor said that Ricoh’s license would expire in 2020, causing panic and speculation over what that would mean for Pentax cameras. Hoya bought Pentax in 2007 from Pentax Corporation, later selling the company’s photography division to Ricoh in 2011.