copying soft/hard ware

[KA4HJH]

>If copying software is stealing, then patent infringement must be stealing
>too.

Sort-of. Art and software are copyrighted, inventions are patented. Both
are protected, but in different ways. The details of the moral judgement
are left up to you.

>If the court decides that the design is too similar to the patented design,
>is there no way that you can use it despite having no knowledge of the work
>of the other person ?

You're screwed. Elisha Gray got there just hours after Bell. And we all
know who invented radio. Too bad it took the courts so long to reach a
final decision, everyone's dead.

Terry Bowman, KA4HJH
"The Mac Doctor"