On 11 July 2013 at 15:37 Richard <
warlandr63@...> wrote:
>
> Really, too much emphasis is sometimes put on legalities. Yeah sure, if I'm a
> company like GC who steals a brand, claims it as my own, then makes a big buck
> from it, sure, stick it to me. I'm not GC.
>
> I restore old VW's, if it weren't for 3rd party manufacturers supplying parts
> they'd never get rebuilt!!!...Does Volkswagon take them all to
> court?.....Nope. Does it take any of the companies that supply parts and use
> the VW name or logo as part of their business name to court?.....Nope.
>
> They don't because it is uneconomical to support these old cars anymore, yet
> to shutdown businesses that do would be counter productive to their own
> commercial activities.
>
I can only think of one manufacturer of music equipment that threatens court
cases over the sale of after market parts for a long out of production device.
The manufacturer in question is Rickenbacker, who has threatened the
manufacturer of replacement "horseshoe" pickups for lap steel guitars (although
they can be used in some bass guitar models as well). It's highly likely that
the court case will fail, as did a previous attempt to sue the manufacturer of a
replacement bridge for Rickenbacker bass guitars. In your case, you are offering
an after market part for a long out of production device from a defunct
manufacturer. Your memory cart needs to be essentially similar to the original
Simmons ones in order to function - this functionality requirement means that
while the circuit design in the original carts is copyrightable, the way it
works isn't, unless it's covered by a patent. I doubt that any part of such a
mundane item as a memory cart was ever patented, and as you designed your own
circuit you're not infringing copyright.
Chris