[sdiy] SSM chip reissue

[David G Dixon]

Copyright on a schematic is exactly that: the schematic, not the product it
represents.

There is nothing in an electronic design that can't be copied by a
competitor unless it is covered by a patent, but patents are reserved for
things which are novel and inventive, and they cost a lot of money, time and
effort to get.  In fact, I can say with experience that getting patents is a
very soul-sucking experience, and not for the faint of heart.  I should
know, as I have about 7 of the damn things and they have been nothing but a
source of grief -- I have never made a penny on any of them.  In fact, the
only things I've ever "invented" and actually made money on are my synth
module designs, and most of them are no great secret.

If you make a successful product, then you are basically inviting your
competition to copy you and undercut your price.  It happens all the time,
in every sphere of business.


> -----Original Message-----
> From: Synth-diy [mailto:synth-diy-bounces at synth-diy.org] On 
> Behalf Of rsdio at audiobanshee.com
> Sent: Monday, April 24, 2017 11:34 PM
> To: synth-diy at synth-diy.org
> Subject: Re: [sdiy] SSM chip reissue
> 
> 
> On Apr 24, 2017, at 1:01 PM, Vladimir Pantelic 
> <vladoman at gmail.com> wrote:
> > On 24.04.2017 21:15, Jay Schwichtenberg wrote:
> >> You need to look up Behringer's history. They lost 
> lawsuits for coping Aphex (sp?) and Mackie equipment.
> > 
> > Behringer only lost to Aphex and that was in or before 
> 1997, that's 20 years ago....
> > 
> > the Mackie suit was dismissed:
> > 
> > https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Behringer#Legal_cases
> 
> It looks like Mackie lost because there isn't any law against 
> literally copying another company's schematic in a competing product.
> 
> I don't know what the ethics are, but it sure makes it 
> difficult for an inventor to make repairs easy decades into 
> the future, without also making it easy for a competitor to 
> skip all the R&D costs and undercut the price.
> 
> I suppose if there is a patent on technology in the 
> schematic, like Moog's ladder filter, then that's a different 
> story from hoping to copyright the schematic of a complete product.
> 
> Brian Willoughby
> 
> 
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