Re: zip chip schematic

[salfter@salfter.diespammersdie.dyndns.org (Scott Alfter)]

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In article <1139546328.810091.281260@g14g2000cwa.googlegroups.com>,
mdj <mdj.mdj@gmail.com> wrote:
>> > (Would a patent issued in 1988 have run out already?  For the longest
>> > time, patents were good for 17 years, but at some point, they switched
>> > to 20 years.  Even if the issued patent was for 20 years, it might
>> > already have run out if the periodic maintenance fees weren't paid. 
>> > There's no indication on the USPTO website of whether the ZipChip
>> > patent is still valid.)
>
>Not that it matters really, since if someone builds new zipchips based
>on documents and schematics, they will be infringing on copyright.

IANAIPL, but wouldn't copyright only enter into it if someone disassembled a
ZipChip and copied the board layout?  That and the configuration software
were the only parts of the design protected by copyright.  The rest of the
design was patented, but recent posts indicate the patent expired about 13
years ago.

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