Patent violations?!

[René Schmitz]

Hi all,

I'm looking forward to do some circuits, which are mainly based on 
patented stuff. But I don't want to infringe someone elses rights.
 
My questions: 

How long does it take for a patent to become public domain?
And would I be allowed to publish a circuit to which patent rights are
still active? 

Bye,
 René


-- 
transconductance | uzs159 at uni-bonn.de
isfutilepreparet | http://www.uni-bonn.de/~uzs159
obeassimilated.. | http://members.xoom.com/Rene_Schmitz