On 3 Jan 2005 13:13:40 -0800, wrote:

Isnt it a copywrite problem if you copy someone else's antenna design?

Hi OM,

We used to have a PhD here who would have claimed so (after having
claimed the Earth, Sea, and the Sky in patents "pending"). As a girl
friend of mine described "he had all of his sense educated out of
him."

Copyright covers claims to authorship and trade of the author's
product - which in this case the only tangible evidence is generally
found on paper in written or drawn form or in other means of
recording.

Patent covers claims to invention and trade of the inventor's product
- which in this case would be that antenna.

In either case, the law provides the author or inventor a means to
pursue his loss of profit if these works are duplicated without
license or permission. With few exceptions, Common Law would suggest
that the practice of duplication by an individual for their own use
(and not to produce for sale or distribution) is allowed. Copyright
and Patent are then issues of the marketplace, not the home.

Patents expire in time. Copyright expires after the author does (and
only many years after that). Both then enter into the Public Domain.

As far as legal advice goes, caveat reader. As I pointed out above,
the law provides a means, the courts, not a guarantee. Further, it
should come as no surprise that even lacking this, you can always be
taken to court - even if you don't get out of bed for fear of being
sued.

73's
Richard Clark, KB7QHC