Is it alright to clone?
- Thread starter volta
- Start date
Help Support GroupDIY Audio Forum:
adrianh
Well-known member
Yes!
You can build any damn thing you want too and steal any design you want too, for your own personal use.
When you start selling the clones it gets real sticky.
You cross the ethical line when you rip off someone elses
design and start selling that product.
Once you become a pain in the side of the orginial designer then a lawyer
will come knocking on your door.
All of us here are doing this for our own use. The few guys that are selling
complete units are using designs that are in the public domain.
We never come close the the ethical line here.
Build stuff and be happy.
You can build any damn thing you want too and steal any design you want too, for your own personal use.
When you start selling the clones it gets real sticky.
You cross the ethical line when you rip off someone elses
design and start selling that product.
Once you become a pain in the side of the orginial designer then a lawyer
will come knocking on your door.
All of us here are doing this for our own use. The few guys that are selling
complete units are using designs that are in the public domain.
We never come close the the ethical line here.
Build stuff and be happy.
volta
Well-known member
- Joined
- Dec 10, 2004
- Messages
- 118
If you clone a unit and sell it in kit form then the BUYER is using it for HIS OWN use,not yours.So your not really selling the goods.
Just a means to the goods.I quess?Tricky subject.
Anyone here ever been contacted or threatened by a lawyer after publishing clone info?
Never.
But then again, we don't sell kits...
Jakob E.
But then again, we don't sell kits...
Jakob E.
AMZ-FX
Well-known member
[quote author="volta"]Anyone here ever been contacted or threatened by a lawyer after publishing clone info?[/quote]
I have.
BTW, I wrote the article linked at the top of this thread...
The article deals only with the legal aspects of cloning a circuit, not with the moral or ethical implications. The legal limits are fairly easy to define.
Ethics are the rules governing a group, as in how the d-i-y community feels about copying commercial circuits. This can be a nebulous range with some members wanting secrecy and others thinking that everything should be revealed. For example, the d-i-y stompbox group has an ethical stance that schematics of some pedals should not be published because of the wishes of the builder, though there are no legal restrictions for doing this. The group, as a whole, respects the desire of a fellow pedal-builder in this case.
The morals are how you feel bound by your own personal conscience. You may think that all information should be published; "information wants to be free" is the credo often repeated. For others, it is the realization that posting information publically about a commercial device, especially one from a small company, may have a negative impact on that business, reduce sales, and cause lost jobs for their workers. While there may be no legal restriction, a person's conscience may prevent them from copying a circuit for resale or even revealing what is known about it.
As adrianh said, "when you start selling clones it gets real sticky". This is true and the matter of trademarks then becomes an important issue once you are cloning a well known box.
regards, Jack
I have.
BTW, I wrote the article linked at the top of this thread...
The article deals only with the legal aspects of cloning a circuit, not with the moral or ethical implications. The legal limits are fairly easy to define.
Ethics are the rules governing a group, as in how the d-i-y community feels about copying commercial circuits. This can be a nebulous range with some members wanting secrecy and others thinking that everything should be revealed. For example, the d-i-y stompbox group has an ethical stance that schematics of some pedals should not be published because of the wishes of the builder, though there are no legal restrictions for doing this. The group, as a whole, respects the desire of a fellow pedal-builder in this case.
The morals are how you feel bound by your own personal conscience. You may think that all information should be published; "information wants to be free" is the credo often repeated. For others, it is the realization that posting information publically about a commercial device, especially one from a small company, may have a negative impact on that business, reduce sales, and cause lost jobs for their workers. While there may be no legal restriction, a person's conscience may prevent them from copying a circuit for resale or even revealing what is known about it.
As adrianh said, "when you start selling clones it gets real sticky". This is true and the matter of trademarks then becomes an important issue once you are cloning a well known box.
regards, Jack
Buttercup
Well-known member
I had to sell my U47 clone as I was absolutely desperate
for money one month.
The guy bought it for £700 and puts it up against vintage
Neumans costing £2-£3,000 saying it is one of the best
mics he's ever heard!!!!!!!
It's in for repair at the moment and he's commissioned
another tube mic!!
Yippeeeee!!!!
I was very careful how I worded the info on evilbay so as
to make sure whoever bought it Knew EXACLTLY what it was.
for money one month.
The guy bought it for £700 and puts it up against vintage
Neumans costing £2-£3,000 saying it is one of the best
mics he's ever heard!!!!!!!
It's in for repair at the moment and he's commissioned
another tube mic!!
Yippeeeee!!!!
I was very careful how I worded the info on evilbay so as
to make sure whoever bought it Knew EXACLTLY what it was.
