Re: [oc] hardware compatibility and patent infringement

[bob.cousins@philips.com]

I think if you are at all worried about patent/copyright infringement
it would be best to avoid it and develop your own instruction set.

Whether you are developing for commercial or non-commercial use, if you 
use IP developed by someone else, you run the risk that at some point
the IP owner gets uppity about their sales being undermined, whether
rightly or wrongly. Fighting a law suit is always tedious and expensive,
and it is a shame to have to throw away work.

The best advice I saw from a lawyer (a real one!) about copyright
law was "invariably the answer to the question 'Am I violating copyright?'
is 'yes', and in answer to the subsequent question 'If I do X, does this
get round it?", the answer is 'no'".

-- 
Bob Cousins
Software Engineer.
"Beginning and end are part of a single ring and no one can comprehend
its principle. " - Chuang Tzu