In article , Laurence Payne
lpayne1NOSPAM@dslDOTpipexDOTcom wrote:
On Mon, 26 Mar 2007 16:05:28 +0100, "jasee" wrote:

Because very often, or maybe always, they haven't scanned any
documents, they've simply copied someone elses scan or got the pfs
from somewhere else. So the price is out of all proportion to the
cost. They don't even own the copyright anyway.


Many manufacturers take the attitude that, if the manuals ARE in pdf
format, it's cheaper and easier to make them freely available for
download. Others feel differently. And it's THEIR call, not ours.

Yes... and no. :-)

The copyright and IPR would be theirs. However there are problems.

One is that when a maker shuts down then it may be difficult to service a
unit or check if it is working OK. Since the UK/EU law permits some copying
for the purposes of 'study', 'research', etc, it can be argued that copies
should then be available for repair work, or to study how the unit worked.

Another is that although the physical drawings the company makes may be
their copyright, this does not necessarily prevent someone else from doing
their own drawings of the same topology and issuing copies if they so
choose. But if no-one has ever seen a diagram this can be difficult -
particularly with those makers who do things like remove the identication
numbers from components or pot them so you can't determine what they used.

If the circuit arrangement is 'novel' then it can only be protected legally
if patented - which means they have to have disclosed all the relevant
details in the patent. This is a public document and can be copied. If they
haven't patented the arrangement then others can make their own versions if
they wish - provided they don't duplicate the physical form or 'pass off'
the results as being by the original maker.

I have particular problems with the behaviour of some makers in refusing to
provide any circuit diagrams, etc. This makes it difficult to establish any
record for 'historic' purposes.

The problem for older makers tends to be rather different. They generally
were happy to issue circuit diagrams, service manuals, etc. The snag was
'continuous development' which means that each diagram may be a 'snapshot'
of the unit - at a time not indicated on the diagrams! Been looking at
Sugden and Radford diagrams recently, and this is a snag with both makes.
However in those days makers were generally proud of their designs, and
delighted to give people all the details. Not like many modern makers who
seem to feel they have 'something to hide'. :-/

Above said, situations like that with Sugden or Radford can be fascinating
as an excercise in what I have come to call 'Audio Archeology'. You
'unearth' documents a bit like digging up chunks of pottery, and then
compare them with others to try and deduce what came when, and what were
the reasons for the changes. Fun as well as frustrating. ;-

Slainte,

Jim

--
Electronics http://www.st-and.ac.uk/~www_pa/Scot...o/electron.htm
Audio Misc http://www.st-and.demon.co.uk/AudioMisc/index.html
Armstrong Audio http://www.st-and.demon.co.uk/Audio/armstrong.html
Barbirolli Soc. http://www.st-and.demon.co.uk/JBSoc/JBSoc.html