On 23 Apr 2005 09:01:48 -0700, Winfield Hill
-edu wrote:

Watson A.Name - \"Watt Sun, the Dark Remover\" wrote...

Everyone, including the legal system, should view certain types of
manuals as different than other IP. In the case of an instruction
manual, this is is directly related to the instrument, and has no real
use or value on its own. Therefor the owner of an instrument should
have the right to own this manual, no matter where or how it was
obtained. I would go as far as to say that the instrument maker should
be obligated to supply one to the owner upon proof of ownership, but
the makers wouldn't want to be stuck with that responsibility.

Hear! Hear!

---
I disagree. If the instrument maker supplied an instruction manual
with the instrument when it was first sold, then, as far as I'm
concerned, he's under no obligation to provide further _free_ copies
of that documentation. As a courtesy, it might be nice for them to do
so, but why should they _have_ to?
---

OTOH the repair, service, maintenance manuals are another case, and
since they might reveal something about the instrument that's not
notmally available to the owner, the owner wouldn't have any right
to these manuals.

Naturally I disagree: Owners of hardware should be able to get the
service manuals for their purchased equipment.

---
If they _can_. When you buy an instrument which you know isn't going
to be accompanied by documentation, then why should anyone be
obligated to supply you with that documentation? They shouldn't. The
responsibility for obtaining that documentation falls directly on the
owner of the instrument, and no one else, and to make the assumption
that it should be supplied to you, for free, is ludicrous.
---


an instrumentSome sellers want
to keep the repair profits for themselves, but in my opinion this
is unwise. OK, we'll leave that point.


---
No, let's _not_ leave that point unexplored. _Why_ do you think it's
unwise?
---

However, surely you agree
that if the manufacturer made detailed service manuals available
at the time of original sale, as HP did, the associated IP should
be treated the same as the instruction manual, per your statement.

---
I don't understand the point you're trying to make.

--
John Fields
Professional Circuit Designer