Watched on streaming a gun related documentary "American Guns: a History of US Firearms". Season 1 ep 10, there was a brief mention that certain engineering features of the Springfield 1903 rifle were very similar to the Mauser designed Gerwehr 98. These rifles of course served opposite interests in that conflict. I am interested in knowing more about how the US was actively at war with a country to whom they were paying international patent royalties? The show, while interesting, did not expand on the "little twist" in the narrative.
Basically. I touched on that in this longer answer. I'll quote the most relevant part below but broader context if you click through:
[....] The Mauser influences would, of course, be absolutely undeniable, to the point that there were actual legal issues that soon arose, specifically about the bullet design. DWM would eventually bring suit about patent infringement in 1914, but legal proceedings were put on hold in 1917 due to the minor issue of the US and Germany being at war. The US tried to solve the issue by seizing the patent under wartime provisions, but in 1921 a tribunal nevertheless ruled in DWM's favor, and the United States was ordered to pay them $412,550.55 for violations... a payment which, of course, covered the bullets used in the war between the two countries. This wasn't the only payment that the US made to Germans either for the rifle. Several other infringements occurred in the design of the rifle itself, not just its ammunition, but these were settled with a post-facto contract that required a payment of $0.75 for every rifle, and $.50 per 1,000 clips. The contract was capped at total payment of $200,000, which was reached before the war, but nevertheless, the US paid out to the German firm quite a pretty penny to build the rifles eventually carried against her a few years later (although, as the pedants are itching to point out, the M1917 would be used in larger numbers). [....]