What's the deal with Swiss Army brand?

[scissorhands]

As far back as I can remember, there was only one Swiss Army knife...no Victorinox or Wenger brands. If fact, I bought a Swiss Army watch a few years ago and it appears to have the Victorinox logo on it (the shield) but it only says "Swiss Army", not Victorinox, Wenger etc. Victorinox now claims to be the "original" Swiss Army knife (beating the future Wenger by only a few years in the late 1800's) and Wenger claims to be the "genuine" Swiss Army knife. What's the deal with this? I always assumed this was the result some sort of recent trademark or patent infringement by one of the companies. From what I can gather, Victorinox is probably the Swiss Army that I always knew. Can someone explain the history of all of this?

 

[Fortesque]

Quoted from the Wenger website:

"The company from which Wenger emerged had been a supplier to the Swiss Army as early as 1893, and its competitor, Victorinox, since 1890. Wenger is in the French-speaking Jura region, and its competitor is in the German-speaking canton of Schwyz. To avoid friction between the two cantons, the Swiss government decided in 1908 to use each supplier for half of its requirements. So while Victorinox can lay claim to be the "original", Wenger can state that its Swiss Army Knives are the "genuine". In any case, both have been manufacturing Swiss Army Knives for over 100 years and both must meet identical specifications laid down by the army."