But 38999 refers to MIL-DTL-38999. Why is it inappropriate to call the same from any manufacturer by the same name?

38999 is a bad example, because the standard came first. Better example might be something like LEMO F-series connectors, which might just be called LEMO connectors in some contexts, yet have compatible connector series from at least a couple different vendors.

▲

goku12 4 days ago | parent [-]

Interesting! I wonder how they came up with the standard if there were no prior examples to base the standard on.

	▲	0_____0 a day ago \| parent [-]
		There were similar connector standards that preceded 38999, e.g. MIL-DTL-5015 as far back as the 30's, which evolved into a couple of subsequent standards, with 38999 emerging in the 70's. Edit: just realized you were maybe referring to the LEMO F-Series compatible connectors. Sometimes a company just designs a new connector. The F-series stuff gets used on stuff like instrumentation that may or may not be ingress protected, and has a need for extremely small size and potentially getting mated/unmated often in service. My assumption is that LEMO found that there wasn't a connector on the market that did this well, and spun up a niche.