[sdiy-interim] Reverse engineering printed circuit boards

[Mike]

> Any previously existing circuit can be built legally,
> provided no aspect of the circuit is protected by a
> current patent (which lets anything a couple of decades
> old off).
> The physical arrangement - or at least the PCB - is a matter of
> 'design', which is covered by copyright, which (if I am correct)
> lasts much longer than a patent.
>
> The most serious matter - and the likeliest to get a call from
> a lawyer - is to sell a device under the name of some manufacturer,
> or to make it look so much like the product of another manufacturer
> that a potential customer might be confused. This last is what
> Behringer appeared to attempt with their EH stompbox copies.
>
> The law informs us of our legal duties; our ethics (if any) of our
> moral duties.

There might be some wiggle room here in the range of 'restoration'. A friend
in the world of vintage aircraft work was discussing this with me recently.
The lines between 'full resoration' and 'replica' can get a bit blurred. One
company will build you a Spitfire replica, (if you have the required £lots).
Another will do what amounts to the same job, including about 10% original
parts, and call it a 'full restoration'. I've re-cased Roland drum machines
in the past. . . .  . I think the real ethical problems arise if you try and
sell a such a thing for profit.

If you were a TB-303 nut you might think about 'restoring' a 303 into one of
these:

http://www.acid.ch/deutsch/e_303.html

(Oh and it's  "get in a comfy chair with a drink before checking the price"
time).

I know about these because I've got a bit of 'restoration' to do later this
yearwhen one arrives: a Manchester based musician had a serious row with
his, (at present "ex"), girlfriend. To emphasise a point she threw his
treasured 303 at him, he fumbled the catch and it left through the window of
his 3rd floor flat. When he got back from collecting the bits from the front
lawn, (luckily they hadn't had the fight in the back room over the car
park), she was gone, leaving him a cup of coffee, and an apologetic note.
The patient was delivered here and emergency surgery performed to retreive
his patterns, the battery had kept on doing it's stuff. Some fairly gruesome
repairs later, it now runs, but it's never going gigging in that case again.

Mike


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