On Thu, 17 Feb 2005 13:51:39 -0500, Erik Schmidt
<[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
> Maybe he just didn't know about the legalities surrounding the PCI spec.
> I sure don't.
>
> Could somebody explain it to me?
>
> You need to pay something to see the spec? Do you need to pay anything
> to use the spec?
My understanding is that in order to receive official documentation on
PCI, you have to be a member of the SIG. That doesn't necessarily
mean that someone can't tell you about PCI but that the copyright
license on the documents available from the SIG require that you be a
member to have your own copy. I doubt it would be a violation of
copyright law for you to flip through your friend's legitimate copy.
>
> Since we need to use PCI (or APG or whatever) this means that the
> graphics card won't be 100% open, right?
Depends on how you look at it. I am not aware of any patents that
would interfere with your ability to use or develop PCI devices.
There is merely a copyright issue regarding PCI SIG publications. If
there are other restrictions, perhaps someone can fill us in.
However, at the time when our PCI controller RTL is released, I'm sure
there would be no restrictions placed on it by the PCI SIG, because it
is not in any way an unauthorized duplication of their copyrighted
materials. The PCI controller implementation would make use of FACTS
found in the PCI spec, but you can't copyright facts.
In other words, the design will be as open as it needs to be. ("I am
never late. A wizzard arrives precisely when he means to.")
Being members of the open source community and relying on licenses
like the GPL, we should all be very much aware of the value of
respecting copyrights. There may or may not be some points in
copyright law to be debated, but when you consider the GPL, copyright
law is our friend.
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