On Tue, 15 Jun 2004 02:31:28 GMT, "Ricky Eck"
wrote:

Ok, to state this first, I am not an expert in this area, but I would think
the service manuals would be copyrighted in some form. I mean, after all,
the design of the device is protected, why wouldn't the service manuals. I
have looked through some operators manuals and didn't see any copyrights on
them, so maybe there are none for the service manuals? It would be
something that I would proceed on with caution and a lot of research.

Simply put, they don't have to put copyright on each manual. Under
current US copyright law it's their intellectual property and that's
that.
Under the fair trade laws you can reverse engineer a manual and that's
legal as well.
Many have simply used the oem manual as a blueprint and made enough
changes in the diagrams and instructions to avoid copyright
infringement.

I know that if, let's say Sony, found out that their service manuals were
floating around the net, I am sure they would have their lawyers all over
it.

That's for sure, sony can be some of the biggest Aholes you could deal
with.
Rick


"Moose" wrote in message
.. .
Is it legal to make pdf copies of manuals and selling them as
resorations or reprinting them? When does copyright law take effect?

...Moose