[sdiy] Patents

[nN AAt e e]

> > Years ago a friend of mine once said that a good way to copyright
something
> > (might work in your case with patents), is to seal it in an envelope and
> > mail it to yourself.
>
> That is not a good idea.  Filing a Copyright claim is NOT expensive and
> establishes
> your right to recover damages should you get ripped off.  Go the official
route
> in that case.


    as a note... soon as you create something, the work is automatically
copyrighted. however, this isn't too too useful unless you register it.
unregistered you can do cease and desist and some other stuff, but to file a
lawsuit you must have the work registered. sending it to yourself is
reduntant, registered or not.... everything you need to know about is right
here: http://www.copyright.gov/help/faq/

    also, a copyright on a schematic is kind of silly when you think about
it... officially "Copyright does not protect ideas, concepts, systems, or
methods of doing something. You may express your ideas in writing or
drawings and claim copyright in your description, but be aware that
copyright will not protect the idea itself as revealed in your written or
artistic work. " so really if someone just redraws your schematic around,
they can do whatever they want with it... [remember that behringer 'article'
i wrote back in the summer?] you can't really patent any traditional analog
type devices nowadays... most of what i said is pretty much true, right?

this thread reminded me of the whole gibson vs buchla/lynx story...
http://stephengoldin.com/gibson/index.html