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Copyright and usage of datasheet materials...?

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David_

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Hello.

I haven't gotten any response form any company, or the company I asked.
And I would think that there are some standard praxis in the electronics field.

Sometimes on blogs I see people using pictures obviously taken from datasheets and app notes, have those blogers had contact with the company whom produced the documents and asked permission or am I free to clip out pictures to use in post here on this site and on my own website?

Lets take an example, at the first page of the datasheet for AD9954 it says:
©2003–2009 Analog Devices, Inc. All rights reserved.

Do that mean tha during 2003-2009 using pictures from that datasheet where a big no no but now as it is 2016 I can use pictures from the document?

I may be at fault thinking that these kind of things is handled in the same way by all the major companies like TI, LT, AD MAXIM etc.

I hope I have asked anything that can be answered, just to say it although I have said it before.
I really do love this forum, thank you all who are involved.

Regards
 

If the datasheet is available on the web I (their own website provide it) do not see any reason not to use it though. Datasheet is not a big deal.. Important things that must be avoided form copyright or use them without paying are books... Music too, who pays for music nowadays ?
 

You probably know about 'fair use'. It's a legal concept which allows small portions of a document to be copied for purposes of advertising, reviews, etc. So then we ask, How much of the document is permissible to be copied? It is not easy to define strictly, in legal terms.

It is usually evident what the intent is. On one hand it helps publicity. It helps sales. Then it helps the author (or business). So as a courtesy we ought to give credit to our source, when possible. Then at least we are giving an author his due for his intellectual property.

However if too much material is copied, then it can encroach on sales. Then the author might call it 'unfair use'. It's hard to say where are proper boundaries.
 

You probably know about 'fair use'. It's a legal concept which allows small portions of a document to be copied for purposes of advertising, reviews, etc. So then we ask, How much of the document is permissible to be copied? It is not easy to define strictly, in legal terms.

It is usually evident what the intent is. On one hand it helps publicity. It helps sales. Then it helps the author (or business). So as a courtesy we ought to give credit to our source, when possible. Then at least we are giving an author his due for his intellectual property.

You are absolutely right. The company gets free publicity and perhaps some more sales. They are not going to sue you for copying the figures from their application notes.

Fair use is basically limited use: but some publishers want explicit permissions even if I quote a very elementary drawing from a published work.
 

A data sheet is like a public advertisement for their product.
The wider exposure it gets, the happier they will be.
Same with the application notes and sample circuits.

You will certainly not be sued by taking their advice or using their recommended circuit in a commercial product. that is exactly what they are trying to do.

But you will see disclaimers...
Not to be used in life support equipment for example.
Or, all rights reserved.
Its just cover against frivolous legal litigation.

You know, "your diode caused me to fall off my bicycle" and fifty million dollars damage would make me happy again.
 

Thanks for the clarifications. I had never heard of fair use before.
For some reason there are hardly any involvement with these kind of companies here in Sweden, there are sales representatives but that's all there is.
Why I mentioned that was because first I thought that the lack of involvement in the field maybe a reason why I have never before heard about fair use, but that concept couldn't be specific to the electronics market could it?
Electronics might just be one of the more relevant fields in regards to fair use.

I have to note something else I find quite funny, take last question above.
Some would straight away say "of course not" and perhaps think it is a stupid question. But I find that as I get further and further into electronics and programming(C/C++ & Matlab mostly so far) the less certain I am about things. I've been told here on this forum never to assume anything when it comes to electronics which I think is wise not to do(though sometimes hard). My point is that before I got my self involved in these subjects I had a much more firm view of the world and that firm view is getting more and more lucid until I find that one can never ever know what is true and not in this world. By now I have strayed to far from what I tried to write about and going any further would enter the realm of pure philosophy but the underlying point remains valid, an ever increasing knowledge about electronics seems to invalidate my previous confidence in my understanding of the world.

Weird, or maybe not so weird after all.
“The more I learn, the more I realize how much I don't know.” ― Albert Einstein

By the way, I have been sloppy showing appreciation by clicking the "helped me" banner. But when you are in a discussion then many many helpful post get posted and you can't click more than a few before it says "You may not vote on any more threads today."
Anyway then one moves on the the next thread and helpful post often get forgotten. Sorry about that, in any case I will make an effort to retrace my steps and showing appreciation where appreciation is due.
The button is there for a reason I presume.

Regards
 

Its quite true that over the last couple of centuries there has been an explosion of scientific knowledge in all fields, and its simply not possible for anyone to truly grasp all of it even in a fairly narrow field, or to keep up with advances.

I also find it fascinating that there are many old techniques now long forgotten that may still have practical application.

I was recently reading the the British Navy are now becoming quite concerned that the old skills of celestial navigation with a sextant are becoming very rusty, and that a great many modern day naval officers would become lost in their own bath tub without satellite and electronic navigation aids to tell them exactly where they are.
 
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You probably know about 'fair use'. It's a legal concept which allows small portions of a document to be copied for purposes of advertising, reviews, etc. So then we ask, How much of the document is permissible to be copied? It is not easy to define strictly, in legal terms.
If they really did not want their document to be copied, they would not have posted them on the internet. It is very simple, if you do not want something to be used more than the 'fair use', then do not post it on the internet.
 

Okey so we have covered Fair use and the opportunity for using parts and pictures from datasheets and application notes.

How about this though:
I have recently opened a thread in which I want to discuss the possibility of adjusting the output voltage of commercial PSU units(which are fixed), and I will hopefully adapt a XBOX 360 PSU(12V @ 16,5A) for use in a saturation test device in which it would have to produce around 24V and around 8A I guess.

If I open the PSU and dismantled the hard plastic cover to revile the PCB, am I allowed to take a picture of the PCB for using in a post here on edaboard.com for asking advice?

And I don't mean in such a detail as to be meant for others to deduce the internal construction but showing the the top with all the transformers and caps and heatsinks.

I would be a happy camper just getting a yes/no, I would not mind though getting more insights into your reasoning. I'm not sure and the following is only a hypotheses but due to me having Aspberger syndrome may be the reason why I find other peoples reasoning regarding the most mundane and ordinary of things fascinating and often quite surprising(though at the same time I can grasp that its weird that I can't make such reasoning my self).

I do confess that I have done no research into this on my own but I can't think of any search terms, I don't know what I need to read up on to get to the bottom of this query. I am hoping some of you already know...

Regards
 

Technically, NO.

Most likely they will NOT file a case, but that is only because they do not love negative publicity. IBM made the details of the PC public and that caused a revolution because today we have 1000s of different companies producing IBM compatible motherboards based on the IBM specification. And the industry was surprised. Because that was the exception and not the convention.

Similar to many computer software, you pay to get a license to use it and not to fiddle with the internals.
 

Okey so no matter if they would come after me it would tarnish the forum, so I'll just make a illustration with pen and paper:)

That was first a very dull joke but seriously, does it change anything if rather than taking a picture I painted a illustration with ...(don't know the English word for those pens with a grey core which is removed with an eraser)...
 

It's reasonable to ask such questions. After all, secret technology might be inside! Just kidding. The power supply is manufactured by the millions. (Or units just like it.)

Photographs of equipment are frequently posted here, without causing a fuss. Same with schematics.

Edaboard's administrators (and/or sponsors) have designed rules for this forum, to permit a large amount of leeway for sharing information. It's how such a forum can exist, where free knowledge gets handed out. The rules are visible by clicking the tab at the top of this page.
Forum moderators are guided by those same rules, as well as by their judgment, at times when questions of propriety arise.
 

I also agree that it's a quite plausible question, and some times I even recall myself the same question. As a particular standpoint, I believe that posting piece of a copyrighted materials in "Threads" intended to ask questions perhaps should be very different than posting at "Blog" sections, that is a place designated to place our own articles, somehow promoting ourselves. Nevertheless, as far as I know, there is no history of any manufacturer complaining about others publishing documentation of their products. Most of these materials are wholly available even without subscription on their websites, as well as in many other reputable websites.
 

Because the idea and work in this board is not commercial activity, it will be covered under 'fair use' clause. I have no idea what it means, but I know that every time I copy (take a print out) a paper or a book, it is not for commercial activity and I hope that I am safe. So go ahead and be a pirate (joking) a datasheet or an application note.
 

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