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Forum Index : Microcontroller and PC projects : Modifying published projects
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James_From_Canb Senior Member  Joined: 19/06/2011 Location: AustraliaPosts: 265 |
There are some brilliant projects published, and I have shelves of Silicon Chip magazines full of interesting ideas. Now I have the Maximite I can start experimenting. Is there an issue with redesigning published projects around the Maximite? I was thinking of the kit that adjusts car speedos for a start, then maybe the multi-stage battery charger. I know little about hardware, so I'd use as much of the original design as I could. Is that likely to raise legal / moral / other issues? Thanks James My mind is aglow with whirling, transient nodes of thought careening through a cosmic vapor of invention. Hedley Lamarr, Blazing Saddles (1974) |
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sparkey Senior Member Joined: 15/06/2011 Location: AustraliaPosts: 819 |
james i have about 20 years wort of sil chip mags um i did do a mod post for the silicon chip preamp as a relay driver board it was prolly about ten pages of posts back i cannot rember exactl when i posted it but you talking about modding projects well i almost mod any thing i can get my hands on ...it makes for good fun...regards ...///.../// 
technicians do it with least resistance |
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| aargee Senior Member Joined: 21/08/2008 Location: AustraliaPosts: 255 |
I can't see any real issues modifying projects for your own personal use. Most people get ideas, pinch snippets, etc from other designs. Now, if you were publishing them or selling for financial gain, there might be some intellectual property issues. For crying out loud, all I wanted to do was flash this blasted LED. |
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donmck Guru  Joined: 09/06/2011 Location: AustraliaPosts: 1313 |
If we are just talking about hardware designs, once it has been published in a magazine, It may well be in the public domain. If it is a circuit design idea sent in by an individual, I doubt if there would be any problems at all. If it was a design that a company submitted, and was a product that they were currently selling, I would be very cautious. But for personal use, who would know? Cheers Don... https://www.dontronics.com |
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| James_From_Canb Senior Member Joined: 19/06/2011 Location: AustraliaPosts: 265 |
Well, if I was going to put in the effort to make a project work with the Maximite I'd be discussing it on forums like this to benefit from the other users hardware knowledge, and so others benefited from the discussions. These "personal projects" might well be built by others. And that's the point. Once the interfacing hardware was settled, I'd expect the Maximite code to be modified regularly by users as new ideas were implemented. They would convert a published project into a community modified project. I don't want to bring the forum into disrepute by discussing anything that might break copyright etc. There would be no financial gain, but discussion on the forum might be taken as publishing. Again, just a thought... James My mind is aglow with whirling, transient nodes of thought careening through a cosmic vapor of invention. Hedley Lamarr, Blazing Saddles (1974) |
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| donmck Guru Joined: 09/06/2011 Location: AustraliaPosts: 1313 |
I understand where you are coming from James. For many years, I have looked at schematics published in magazines and said to myself, "Why didn't they just use a micro?" In fact, I recall one recently in Silicon Chip where they used heaps of logic gates to produce, I forget what it was now. I think it was a poker machine, but it doesn't really matter. Perhaps the purpose of the exercise was to educate readers in logic gate design. But it all could have been done with a simple PIC or AVR. Applications are all about Input & Output, and how you control the exchange of information between them. Could be a Poker Machine, a Multi-Meter, a CRO, an ECG monitor, an iPhone, eReader, or an xyz. If I were to use the Poker Machine as an example, and I scrapped all of the logic gates, and used a Maximite, would I be breaching any copy-write? I may have the same input of player buttons, and output to large 7 segment LEDs, but as these are massed produced for end products, and require specific interfacing to get to TTL or micro signal levels, the hardware interfacing designs are usually part of the manufacturers data sheets. If the concept of the Poker Machine is protected by existing patents, there may be a problem, but again, I would doubt this if Silicon Chip can design and build an example. The old company I worked for (ATL-AWA) also produced poker machines for many years. Perhaps certain aspects of their design was protected, I wasn't in the Poker Machine department, so I can't enlarge on this. I think if you kill the existing heart of a design, and transplant a new heart into it (Maximite), then the rest is up to the I/O being protected in some way. If you use off the shelf I/O products that have data sheets to assist you in interfacing to a micro, then I doubt very much that there is a problem. Perhaps you can give us an example. Cheers Don... https://www.dontronics.com |
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VK6MRG Guru Joined: 08/06/2011 Location: AustraliaPosts: 347 |
I think when it comes to "Hobbyist electronics" like Silicon Chip articles, changing the design to suit your own purposes would be enough to make the design yours. But something that I did pick up on during my business management subjects was intellectual property. That is the idea of the project and what it does, rather than how it does it. This is an interesting point, and something that could have the potential to cause issues. But one would think that an article like something from Silicon Chip (or simular) would be waving such rights as it is being placed into the public domain. As opposed to a private company which would take out a patent or copyright for example. I maybe barking up the wrong tree here, but it makes sense to me. And I'm no expert!! Its easier to ask forgiveness than to seek permission! ............VK6MRG.............VK3MGR............ |
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elproducts Senior Member Joined: 19/06/2011 Location: United StatesPosts: 282 |
As an author of many articles and books I recommend you contact the author via email and ask for permission to modify the design. In most cases they will be happy to say yes and may even offer some suggestions to make it easier. Then you have written approval and a direct path to the originator if you run into any issues. If for some reason they don't approve, then you will know before investing a lot of time. In the USA the originator still owns the copyright to that material. Typically the magazine is just given first serial rights which allows them to be the first publisher but not the owner of the copyright material. That would stay with the author. www.elproducts.com |
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| donmck Guru Joined: 09/06/2011 Location: AustraliaPosts: 1313 |
Sounds like a very sensible approach Chuck, and cuts to the chase. Even if the author didn't appear email contactable in the article, the magazine should be able to put you in contact with him/her. Cheers Don... https://www.dontronics.com |
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