> I mentioned this because I know that a designer might be approached by > someone who wants to make such a thing. He might provide a photo of an old > board and say that he needs to reproduce it, the originals have been lost, > he might claim.
You mean something like this: http://patft.uspto.gov/netacgi/nph-Parser?Sect1=PTO1&Sect2=HITOFF&d=PALL&p=1&u=/netahtml/srchnum.htm&r=1&f=G&l=50&s1=6058192.WKU.&OS=PN/6058192&RS=PN/6058192 _____________ Brian Guralnick ----- Original Message ----- From: "Abd ul-Rahman Lomax" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To: "Protel EDA Forum" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Sent: Tuesday, September 09, 2003 9:47 PM Subject: Re: [PEDA] License Legalities OT > At 07:56 PM 9/9/2003, Brian Guralnick wrote: > > > misdemeanor. Selling the boxes appears to be a public offense (if I'm > > > correct, public offenses are prosecutable as felonies). Relevant to the > > > interests of printed circuit designers, printed circuit boards are > > > specifically mentioned. > > > > That's because any pirated boxes have been stolen from the cable > >company, or manufacter. Such cable boxes are only sold between the > >manufacturers (ie Scientific Atlanta, GI - Jerrold, Pioneer...) and the > >cable companies. Any of the boxes which are purchased separately between > >you & a store dealer, must be stolen units, or stolen property, not to > >mention that these units have also been modified intentionally for theft of > >signal as well. > > No, I don't think this is correct, or at least it isn't complete. The > reference is to non-authorized decoders which are sold on the black market. > They are not generally stolen, per se, though they may represent > unauthorized use of intellectual property or such things as copied circuit > boards. The reference is to devices to defeat the scrambling. Sure, the > legal box does that, but a new law wouldn't have been needed to deal with > theft of boxes.... Rather someone may have reverse-engineered a box or may > have developed an independent decoder. > > I mentioned this because I know that a designer might be approached by > someone who wants to make such a thing. He might provide a photo of an old > board and say that he needs to reproduce it, the originals have been lost, > he might claim. (And certainly I've been asked to reproduce PCBs where the > films etc. had completely disappeared.) Designers are not obligated to > confirm that a design request is legitimate, but if it did become > reasonably clear that it was not legitimate, and the designer provided > services to further the end of unlawful use, I think the designer might be > exposed to criminal liability. This is entirely aside from the ethical > question. > > * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * To post a message: mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] * * To leave this list visit: * http://www.techservinc.com/protelusers/leave.html * * Contact the list manager: * mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] * * Forum Guidelines Rules: * http://www.techservinc.com/protelusers/forumrules.html * * Browse or Search previous postings: * http://www.mail-archive.com/[EMAIL PROTECTED] * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
