5 Jan
2007
5 Jan
'07
3:14 p.m.
On Fri, 5 Jan 2007 19:16:41 +0000 (GMT), Tony Duell wrote:
> Because in the good old days it was Federal law.
The FTC or what ever they were called then
> required manufacturers to provide schematics for all electronic devices marketed int
the US. Had to
> provide spare parts for something like 7 years too.... The lawyers changed all that
years ago.
How did HP get away with not releasing schematics for
the 9100, then?
-tony
Good question, A deal was made with the TV / Radio industry where SamsPhotofact became the
central
clearing house. Even the HiFi and C/B radio industry feed the Sams Printing system with
fresh fodder
each month.
Early Computers were exempt right from the start, because they were for the most part each
unique.
Then on Sept 12 1958, Jack Kilby successful demonstrated that first simple microchip in
the laboratory
and all the rules began to change, slowly at first. Then over the last 50 years, many
concept have shifted.
Today information has a resale value, that is not associated with extrortion or
blackmail.
Most largest lawfirms have Intellectual property departments, with enforcement quotas to
meet.
I have found that If I needed one bad enough I could purchase all the information I needed
to fix
something I wanted fixed. A few have required NDA's but in most cases a set of
drawings were made for
each system, as built, or were on file somewhere, Sometimes it was free, you just had to
ask at time of
order so a second set could be generated at system build time.
Got to run ...
no time to fix spelling ....
Bob