[azasadny]

Here's some additional info from a guy on the Walther forums, this makes more sense to me...

"The defacement was not done by Manurhin. It was done by various importers who attempted to bring the guns into the USA after purchasing them surplus from parties overseas who had acquired them in scattered lots from different German police departments. That's why quite a few variations of defacement are seen; this example is one of the neater ones.

The reason for the defacement was that the "WALTHER" trademark in the USA was owned by Interarms, the exclusive U.S. importer, which had registered that trademark with U.S. Customs. The Customs Service was thereby required to intercept any "gray market" importation of trademarked goods --even those with genuine (not faked) trademarks-- and seize the offending goods. Unless permission could be obtained from Interarms (not likely; it's a cut-throat business), the importers were given only three choices: surrender the guns for destruction, re-export them, or remove the trademarks. The European sellers had already been paid and were not going to take the guns back, so..."