RE: [oc] Legal projects that can be worked on.

["Sam Gladstone" <samg@t-and-t.com>]

I thought about "distribute" after I wrote it as well.
With software patents this would definitely be
a problem since the "idea or method" takes hardly
any resources to produce. An implementation of the
idea in software for simulation is indistinguishable
from the actual product that does work for which the
patent was granted and protection allowed.

This is not so for a piece of hardware like an ASIC.
The Verilog code does not DO anything useful when simulated.
("Do" as in a definition of work, i.e. you would not simulate
a processor in Verilog to accomplish real world work with programs.)
It is only when an implemented product is synthesized and
either taped out or put into a FPGA that it can perform
work that may be covered by the patent.  If you distributed the
ASIC or FPGA then you might cause problems.

Using this idea, that none of our HDL code will ever be able to
be useful to do work in the software form, I think it would be
fairly tough to prove that distribution harms the patent.

This should be coupled with the fact that Opencores is a non profit
organization that does not profit an any way from the distribution.

If someone builds a patented circuit then they should document it
and maybe the group can work a way around it.
That is why patents are forced public disclosure, so that technology
can be advanced through finding a different way to implement. It was not
created to be some form of strangling cash cow for any company that happens
to get one.(Although I agree with people that companies seem to have
interpreted it's use in a distorted way.)

Regards,
  Sam Gladstone




-----Original Message-----
From: owner-cores@opencores.org [mailto:owner-cores@opencores.org]On
Behalf Of Vladimir Dergachev
Sent: Thursday, December 27, 2001 7:19 PM
To: cores@opencores.org
Subject: RE: [oc] Legal projects that can be worked on.




On Mon, 24 Dec 2001, Sam Gladstone wrote:

> Here is my take on patents.
>
> Well, with patents in the US system, it is allowed for a
> person to study and implement a solution based on someone else's patent.
> With the condition that if you sell the item, then you get a license for
the
> patent.
> The patent holder is not required to sell you a license and therefore can
> stop you from selling the implementation.
> Patents were built to share technology for a price, a limited monopoly.

Is it "sell" or "distribute" ? This is a fine point that is
important.

                      Vladimir Dergachev

>
> This is to our advantage as Opencores is a non profit group and
> does not sell anything for a profit.
>
> As long as you don't intend to sell the implementation, then you can
> "research"
> the idea as much as you want.  It would even be good to know if you ran
into
> a patented idea so that the OC group could try to invent around the
patent,
> release
> the idea to which this would count as prior art preventing further
> patenting.
>
> What I want know is what is Copyrightable in the design world? Instruction
> sets?
> Signal names? Specs? Not sure how much protection a company can exert on
> their
> product or spec.
>
> Regards,
>   Sam Gladstone
>
>
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: owner-cores@opencores.org [mailto:owner-cores@opencores.org]On
> Behalf Of Philipp Krause
> Sent: Monday, December 24, 2001 4:11 AM
> To: cores@opencores.org
> Subject: Re: [oc] Legal projects that can be worked on.
>
>
> Sam Gladstone wrote:
>
> >I completely agree!
> >If we know what is legal and what areas are not, then
> >the group can be more focused on the right things.
> >
> How should we deal with different nation's laws? There are countries
> that don't
> have a DCMA equivalent yet. Some companys hold patents only valid in their
> home countries.
>
> Philipp Krause
>
> >
>
> --
> To unsubscribe from cores mailing list please visit
> http://www.opencores.org/mailinglists.shtml
>
>
> --
> To unsubscribe from cores mailing list please visit
http://www.opencores.org/mailinglists.shtml
>

--
To unsubscribe from cores mailing list please visit
http://www.opencores.org/mailinglists.shtml


--
To unsubscribe from cores mailing list please visit http://www.opencores.org/mailinglists.shtml