First off I'm pretty sure Elecraft wouldn't mind if we built this. In fact I'm guessing if they had a "cleaned up for publishing" document with the protocol specification, Wayne would post it here. I'm guessing they don't, and it would be a lot of work to get it into a clean, publishable version - and the engineers are quite busy with KX3, KAT500, and other things.
>From a legal standpoint, there is nothing wrong with reverse engineering such a protocol and publishing the result, as long as there wasn't any misappropriation of trade secrets (e.g. using an unauthorized, leaked Elecraft document as a starting point). But monitoring the communications on the bus and from there working out the protocol, and implementing your own version, is a perfectly legal thing to do, and is in fact a protected right. The only exception would be DMCA-related, where you are not allowed to reverse engineer a protocol that's specifically designed to protect copyright - many do not like that law one bit, and it does not apply everywhere, but in any case a case like this falls way outside the scope of the DMCA. So it's perfectly legal to do :) 73, Thomas M0TRN On 4 September 2012 15:10, Stewart <[email protected]> wrote: > Raises some interesting questions... > > Can a unique protocol be protected ? > > If so, if it is publicised has an offence been committed ? > > If it is used only by an individual and not commercially, has an offence > been committed ? > > 73 > Stewart G3RXQ > ______________________________________________________________ Elecraft mailing list Home: http://mailman.qth.net/mailman/listinfo/elecraft Help: http://mailman.qth.net/mmfaq.htm Post: mailto:[email protected] This list hosted by: http://www.qsl.net Please help support this email list: http://www.qsl.net/donate.html
