Unicomp is the current license holder and manufacturer of Model M keyboards using buckling spring key switches, the patents for which they purchased from Lexmark in 1996.
IBM, their principal customer and the Model M's original designer and patent holder, had decided to remove the Model M from its product line in favor of cost-saving rubber-dome keyboards.
Rather than seeing its production come to an end, a group of former Lexmark and IBM employees purchased the license, tooling and design rights for buckling-spring technology, and, in April 1996, reestablished the business as Unicomp.
Since 1996, the tooling and molds that Unicomp had inherited from Lexmark began to wear out, leading to a gradual decline in build quality and finish.
Unicomp's product line consists largely of modified designs based on late Model M keyboards produced by Lexmark: Unicomp also offers a repair service along with replacement and custom parts for virtually all Model M and similar keyboards made by IBM, Lexmark, Maxi Switch, and Unicomp.