[OH Updates] Schematics and copyright

[Alexander Chemeris]

Hi Bruce,

On Wed, Sep 21, 2011 at 02:08, Bruce Perens <bruce at perens.com> wrote:

>  On 09/20/2011 02:15 PM, Alexander Chemeris wrote:
>
> Does it mean that schematics **is** protected by copyright?
>
>  The problem is that copyright does not apply to a functional portion of a
> work, only the expressive portion. How a court treats this is best explained
> here in Wikipedia:
> http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Computer_Associates_Int._Inc._v._Altai_Inc.
> That article might be difficult.
>

Indeed, the article is hard to read for non-lawyer, still it's very much
useful.



> The effect of this on schematics is:
> You probably can use copyright to restrict the distribution of copies of a
> schematic.
> You probably can not use copyright to restrict what is built from that
> schematic.
>

Thank you for the explanation. When you say "built", do you say that one
legally can:
1) Create PCB layout for this schematics and make PCBs?
2) Modify original schematics for his own purpose without any restrictions?
3) Use part of the original schematics without any restrictions?

I would appreciate if you clarify this.


-- 
Regards,
Alexander Chemeris.
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