Open letter

[Gene Zumchak]

Matt,

    I take exception to the idea that Moog might have borrowed anything from
ARP.  Moog was my first job out of Cornell.  I was really green behind the
ears.  I knew digitial, and that's what I did, like the 960 sequencer and a lot
of custom stuff for special customers.  Analog was a mystery.  More than one
worthy project died on the shelf because Moog could bring himself to look at
what I had done.  He either did it himself or he gave it to you to do and you
did it yourself.  The idea that Moog even looked at an ARP design, let alone
copied it, is pretty fantastic, not that he didn't have a lot of respect for
Alan.

Gene Z.



matt wilson wrote:

> tomg wrote:
>
> >
> >
> > > Unless you have gone to the trouble of patenting your designs, anybody
> > > can go into production with them.  'Twas ever thus.
>
> not true. once you have created an original design, poem, song, sculpture,
> or what have you, its yours. its protected by law as your intellectual
> property. (but
> see below) think about it: you invent something (say, a circuit) and the
> guy looking over your
> shoulder copies it and laughs "haha you didn't patent/copywrite
> your ideas. i have free reign to rip you off!" ? no no no.
>
> patenting something does a couple of different things: first, it clears up,
> as a matter
> of law, just who owns something. so in the above example, lets say there is
> an
> ownership challenge regarding the circuit: the over the shoulder guy goes
> into production with your circuit.
> further assume there was a videotape of him looking
> over your shoulder, copying your design way back when. hence, there is no
> doubt that its your
> design that he copied. its still your design and you could sue him. of
> course in real life there isn't
> usually such handy records of such things. so, without positive proof that
> its yours, lets say he
> claims "i invented this cicuit!". had you patented or copywrited your work,
> there would
> be no real issue: its yours and thats that.
>
> second, if you want to sell a design to someone (like a manufacturer) they
> are going to want to
> know who owns it to avoid potential problems. you show them a patent and
> your idea, product,
> etc. is worth more right away. the patent protects the resale of the idea.
>
> this discussion makes me think of my epoxied arp 4012 "moog ladder" filter
> in my 2600.
> there is some lore regarding both arp and moog "borrowing" from each
> other's patents
> around this era. they allegedly mutually agreed not to litigate because
> they were both
> doing it!  the funny part is that i'm sure arp patented the 4012, and then
> nevertheless
> sealed it up so that no one (including arp techs) could service the thing.
> of course, in
> order to patent something, you have to tell the world just what you did,
> how you did it,
> etc. so patenting something really lets the cat of the bag. (maybe arp
> didn't patent it,
> they just tried to keep it secret with the epoxy!).
>
> in fact, the kentucky colonel's 11 secret herbs and spices is truly that: a
> secret. its
> not patented (neither is coca cola!): if it was, anyone could look it up
> and make it at home.
> (that a whole other story there: home brew....)
>
> getting hungry....and yes i am an attorney.
> --
> matt wilson, odyssey sound
>  email: sebsi23 at hooked.net
>   web: www.wenet.net/~sebsi23
>    phone: (415) 675-4886