Re: [Qemu-devel] Cirrus Logic

[John R. Hogerhuis]

On Wed, 2004-06-02 at 04:35, Bartosz Fabianowski wrote:

> I agree that it is very unlikely anybody would care. Most developers 
> also find it boring and annoying to try and figure out the legalities 
> behind every little step they take. I personally just happen to be 
> interested in the legal matters behind things. That is why I posed the 
> question in the first place and that is why I am still interested in 
> seeing whether I can get official permission from Cirrus. Not that 
> others care, I just consider this an interesting task for myself.
> 

I too take interest in these legal issues that crop up.

However, I'm not sure why use of the manuals is an interesting legal
issue when there's no obvious legal issue...

I've never heard using published documentation to implement a clone or
emulation of something being an issue unless you are under NDA or it
involves a patented algorithm. Am I not understanding the problem? Can
you think of an example of such a case? I wonder if Microsoft has a
similar clause in their Win32 documentation, and whether that would stop
the Wine project. And would Microsoft give their permission? If they
could effectively do this, Microsoft would have done this to head off
Wine.

In any event, if you do find someone to ask the convervative answer from
their lawyers would most likely be "no." That's the knee-jerk reaction
when their shareholder interest is orthogonal to the request or possibly
could negatively impact their shareholders. Then what?

Is there any positive interest for the shareholders? If you were to get
a positive response, you'd have to come up with some reasoning that
shows that it is in their shareholders interest to allow their
documentation and hardware to be used to make an emulation. Otherwise I
can almost promise that you will get a "no."

Better to ask forgiveness than permission in some cases.

You'd be more likely to get the answer you want from an independent
lawyer than the successors-in-interest of Cirrus whoever they may be.

-- John.