[Wodgy]

Quote:

Originally posted by kevin gilmore In any case Dr. Meier holds the copyright on the design and these days in the USA at least, this holds major significance.

Sorry Kevin, but you're wrong. Jan doesn't hold the copyright on the design. There is no such thing as a design copyright.

Frankly, people could even sell your amplifiers without your permission and call them "Kevin Gilmore [Amp Name Here]" unless you've trademarked your name or patented the design (since it has been published). Sad but true.

 

[braillediver]

I’m sorry to hear someone abused you generosity Dr. Meier.

An obvious point to me is the guy knew what he was doing is wrong and made a concerted effort to hide the fact by potting the circuit to hide it. Mistakes can happen but this seems to be premeditated and planned out.

I hope you nail his sorry ***** to the wall. And Yes he should be identified for his unethical behavior.


Mitch

 

[rickcr42]

man it really blows my mind how people will do some serious thinking on how to scam someone else but never put the same amount of thought into coming up with an idea of thier own worthy of someone else trying to copy !

There is not a whole lot that has not been done in electronics but as kevin stated-the meier crossfeed is unique ,as is the one by John Conover and both to my knowledge are protected

the one designed by Chu Moy is a vriation on the first (?) such device which was also published in , i think ,popular electronics (maybe Audio) by Linkwitz.

If i read the 'hints" about the headroom circuit it operates in a sum/difference active stage and not passively like the three mentioned

all different ,all original ,all protected


You can build and sell a bass and treble control and no one will bother you

but build the one designed by Tom holman and try to profit and you will be appearing in court

It is still a tone control but the design is original and breaks with the conventional design by buffering each element within the feedback loop avoiding the normal interaction

I have implemented such a design in my system but would never ever consider making them en mass' for sale

I have been building audio gear for going on 35 years and just about anything i have done is nothing more than a variation of the work of another

i do not have that "spark' that allows some to see a thing others miss and i envy that

there are certain topologies that while a variation may have a new twist and when that is something new and recognized the mimicking of the design is instantly recognized for what it is

BTW- thanks for posting the plans for the Cross 1 Jan ,it rules

 

[Wodgy]

Quote:

Originally posted by rickcr42 all different ,all original ,all protected

Nope. Read up on intellectual property law sometime. Unless patents have been filed (Linkwitz may have), the designs are not protected.

Engineers are often naive about these issues. Read the book I suggested in an earlier post. It will open your eyes.

 

[rickcr42]

I'll tell you what ,i would not want to be the one to be in court on those grounds and use that defense

there is such a thing as common sense and when you see a cup calling it a plate does not make it so

 

[Wodgy]

Quote:

Originally posted by rickcr42 there is such a thing as common sense and when you see a cup calling it a plate does not make it so

Welcome to the wonderful world of intellectual property law.

 

[rickcr42]

Glad i bang nails for a living , simple and when it is done it is done

if i had to deal with doublespeak on a daily basis someone would get hurt !

and someone would be arrested

 

[archosman]

One of the places I used to work for is now getting sued over a special they did with a famous deceased Country star. Evidently the original agreement allowed for 2 airings on our own and that no copies could be made or phonographic recordings. That will tell you how long ago that was! Evidently my old company dug out the original 2" videotape master, color-corrected it and made a D-Beta master copy for DVD duplication. This isn't the first time that company had tried to skirt intellectual properties. We used to have a saying there... It's Easier To Say You're Sorry... Than It Is To Ask For Permission! It's funny but then again it's not is it?

The last place I worked had several on-staff producers. I worked in editing and supervised our taperoom. When our librarian quit I found the perfect time to give the responsibility of the taperoom to the next person since I was getting busier. One day she came to me with a problem. One of the producers had worked somewhere (probably a tv station) and noticed one day that they were throwing out about 30 1" broadcast masters of old Laurel & Hardy shorts. They took them out of the trash and had hung on to them for some time. Our new taperoom person came to me and said that producer had come to her on the side and had asked her if she could bump across all of the 1" to D-Beta and in the process remove the slates that said "Hal Roach Productions" as she dubbed them across. Sort of like if I dubbed Star Wars over and when it got to the LucasFilm logo I made sure it didn't end up on tape. He wanted to repackage the old L&H shows for duplication with his own company. I jumped online and found that HRProductions still owns them. The 1" boxes still had the original Hal Roach labels from their facility! I told her under no circumstances was she to dub it and tell him to come see me if there was a problem with that. The subject never came up again. It's all about intellectual rights folks!

Since I work in television I actually have equipment available to me that while not specifically designed to do this it will allow me to strip out Macrovision and Copyguard. I can pretty much dub anything. There's just one problem... I won't do it. About every one to two years I have a dub request come across from someone who's bought a store-bought tape or dvd and wants a dub of it. It took awhile for our Ops people to understand why I kept kicking these dubs back. They would say "This is money. They want to pay for this!" I would say "Have you ever read the warnings at the front of these movies? They're owned by the studios... not the consumer." Took awhile but they've finally got the message! Am I paranoid? Not really.

Would you like to know which movie is the most common one that pops up for dubbing?

Song of the South. Usually comes across my desk about once a year. Can't buy it here in the states, but you can buy it overseas. Whatever Disney...

 

[acs236]

Don't forget Wodgy, there are other laws that can protect a person's name besides trademark. But for the most part, I think you're correct about everything else. To the extent Dr. Meier's patent is registered and enforceable in this country, he has a cause of action against anyone infringing the patent.

Quote:

Originally posted by Wodgy Frankly, people could even sell your amplifiers without your permission and call them "Kevin Gilmore [Amp Name Here]" unless you've trademarked your name or patented the design (since it has been published). Sad but true.

 

[rickcr42]

In the end it really comes down to honesty and not what you can get away with

even if i knew i could not be touched legally for ripping someone off i would never get a full nights sleep again

having a moral code can suck but then again you can't buy trust so it is a priceless commodity

at least with me people know where they stand at all times

even if it is in my "duck" zone

 

[Alex Altorfer]

Jan,

I'm sorry to know that you're being taken advantage of. I sincerely hope you can nail this guy. This is just not right.

Cheers,
Alex

 

[grinch]

Quote:

Originally posted by markl I guess I don't fully understand. Dr. Gilmore posts his schematics for all to use, and several people now produce commercially available products based on them for sale to Head-Fiers, but he doesn't seem to mind. If you post your schematic on the internet for any and all to use, and this fellow is doing just that, how can you sue? If you never published your design, and he took your product and coped it, and advertised and sold it as a cheaper generic "Dr. Meier Crossfeed device", I could certainly see being justifiably upset. If you don't want to be ripped off, though, why make it easier for the thief by publishing your designs on the web in the first place?

the confused emoticon really fits you.

i guess we should be telling/asking the same things of bands like metallica. it's their fault their music is being "stolen." they put it out on there! that's just asking for it to be copied!

i think it's rather pathetic for somebody to do this. i've bought through dr. meier in the past and not only have his designs sounded great, but he also has some of the best customer service i've ever been in contact with. his dedication to this community goes back before the days that head-fi was even started and it's really sad that this should happen. i just hope that this incident doesn't make other designers and supporters of the community stop from putting their designs out there.

hmm, couldn't this person very likely be sued for using the likeness of a famous band too?

 

[taoster]

I guess most of us know who copied who. I for one won't be buying any products from the prior.

Hope thigns goes well for you Dr. Meier.

 

[fiddler]

Man, I had always thought that he had come up with his OWN crossfeed circuit... Very disappointing to hear this. Makes me increasingly less fond of this place.

I like to believe that most people are essentially good, with values like integrity and honesty, but I'm beginning to lose faith.

What with the Grado ripoffs and now this... man, where did the true sprit of DIY go? Unbelievable..


Dr. Meier, you are an asset to this community, and I'm sure the vast majority of us are very grateful for your contributions. Please don't let one individual spoil it for you. I hope this person is brought to justice.

 

[Edwood]

Wodgy is right. At least in the US, copyright law and patent law is quite different in several ways.

Nice link, btw.

Anyways, we are talking about a niche product with word of mouth advertisement.

What goes around, comes around. This guy's karma ran over his dogma.

-Ed