sue you, sue me

[gstopp at fibermux.com]

     Boy ya got me - I've never been able to figure out patent law as it 
     applies to high-tech. When does the arrangement of commercially 
     available off-the-shelf components cease to be obvious to all 
     designers, and start to become proprietary? How come nobody patented 
     the exponential voltage-current relationship of the silicon transistor 
     junction? How can you commercially monopolize a law of physics????
     
     Guess that's why I'm not a lawyer.
     
     >
     >Yes I know the point is moog...er, moot now, but not knowing the ins 
     >and outs of ICs, I thought I'd ask.
     >
     
     Grrrrrooooooaaaaannnnnnn... oooh double pun... Hey Matt, are you 
     intentionally this funny, or just some kind of "humor savant"?
     
     - Gene


______________________________ Reply Separator _________________________________
Subject: sue you, sue me
Author:  haines at quick.net (Matt Haines) at ccrelayout
Date:    4/2/96 11:09 AM


OK, I got a question that's just for my own curiousity.
     
We've all heard how Roland was possibly sued over borrowing Moog ladder 
technology for their filters, but replacing transistors with diodes instead 
(or whatever it is, don't flame me for the details). What would have 
happened if Roland had put those diodes on a chip? Or for that matter, put 
a transistor ladder on a chip? How would Moog be able to prove it if the 
thing's burned into an IC? You can't just pop the hood of a synth and look. 
I ask because I was looking at the schems of my SH101, and they use a 
proprietary filter chip. But the bits outside the chip look a bit 
ladder-ish, and I started wondering if they'd gotten away with something. 
So how could anyone tell?
     
Yes I know the point is moog...er, moot now, but not knowing the ins and 
outs of ICs, I thought I'd ask.
     
     
.       .       .       .       .       .       .       .       .
     
Matt Haines  haines at quick.net
control-X:to:abort:transmission.
     
"I wonder what else works. ... =A2=DC=D6=FF=F9de=C7=FC=E9=E2=E4=E0=E5 Cool! =
 I'm a foreigner!" -
Ric Miller