Hi Stefan:
The Tek mailing list has had a number of posts on this subject, but I think the big picture is that a patent or copyright gives the holder the right to sue a violator for damages. Damages being defined as lost revenue and/or punitive.
So as a practical matter what company is going to spend their valuable corporate attorney fees on a case where they can not even recover their expenses? I don't think it's a case where an individual has copied one manual. But if someone setup a business based on copying all of a companies manuals and underselling that company, then you might expect to be spending some time in court.
Just my 2???,
Brooke Clarke, N6GCE (no legal training, just common cents)
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Date: Thu, 22 Jul 2004 11:48:32 -0000
From: "Stefan Heinzmann" <stefan_heinzmann@...>
Subject: Manual copyright
Hi all,
I have scanned the manual of the HP339A and made a PDF file. I would
like to upload it to BAMA if that's ok. The manual is of course
copyrighted by HP (1984), but the instrument is discontinued, and as
far as I know the manual isn't sold by HP anymore. Tektronix allow
putting up the manual for download in such a case, but I don't know
about HP/Agilent. Does anyone know the rules?
Cheers
Stefan
