Kchula-Rrit@nsc.uucp (Kchula-Rrit) (08/26/83)
The recent discussion of copyright/patent infringment on the net has left
me a little confused. I am a "hardware hacker"(if indeed such exist) and I have
a few questions. This is the situation:
I have a home/personal computer and I want to expand it(printer,disks,RAM,
etc.) but cannot afford(budget=< 0.00 dollars) to buy the peripherals I want.
Since hardware is the main function of my job, I figured I could build the
desired peripherals myself. I purchased the tech manual for the computer from
the manufacturer, and have drawn up a schematic of the first peripheral. Before
I proceed to build the unit, I need answers to some questions.
1. Could I get in trouble for building the peripheral(s) that I want/need
myself for personal use?
2. If I were to build the unit(s) and then write a "how-to-construct" article
in one of the electronics magazines for the($$ and the) benefit of other
people who need low-cost peripherals for these machines, could I be sued
(or otherwise) for ANYTHING???
3. If I were to then market the item, could I get in trouble, also?
The company's computers are selling very poorly, and it seems that they can
use all the publicity that they can get, but you never can tell if they would
appreciate such publicity or if they would react in a *less than benevolent*
fashion. Could you nice netters assist me?
Paranoidally Yours,
Kchula-Rrit
I am a "once-in-a-while* poster to the net, and am therefore not certain of
the path-name(?) to me, but I have been told that it is:
!menlo70!nsc!nessus
Please do not confuse me with the other nessus(at MIT or something like that, it
escapes me at this time). I am on the WEST COAST.