Mitch,
This is fascinating. Can you tell us anything about protection of the circuit design itself (i.e., the "schematic") in China?
-Mithat
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--- In kicad-users@..., Mitch Davis <mjd@...> wrote:
On Sun, Jul 15, 2012 at 3:44 AM, bobcousins34
<bobcousins42@...> wrote:
--- In kicad-users@..., Mitch Davis <mjd@> wrote:
Whether the design is under an open license or not, there are still
conditions that you have to meet in order to copy the board. If it's
not an open license, you would need the permission of the board
design's owner in order to copy it.
I think you raise a good point in the moral dimension, but in the legal
dimension there is no copyright protection on PCBs.
Hello Bob,
I did some reading to try and find the answer, and well, I'm quite surprised.
It appears that in the USA at least, copyright on PCB layout is very
weak, existing only in the artistic side of a design. The part of the
design that exists because of utility (which is what Sudipta wants
with the board's RF characteristics) isn't protected. See response 6:
In a very strange twist, it seems that PCB layout *is* protected in China:
Like so many laws in China however, it's not enforced. Here in
Shenzhen, one can go down the street and get a PCB scanned and
converted back into design files for under USD20.
Strange world. Thanks for bringing this up Bob!
Mitch.
