In article ,
says...
John Fields wrote:
On 17 Mar 2007 11:57:20 -0700, "jerry"
wrote:

On Mar 17, 2:16 pm, "jim menning" wrote:
"jerry" wrote in message

oups.com...





Gurus,
I need your help...
I am an amateur triathlete and I'm getting ready for the start of the
triathlon season and I had this problem last year that I'm trying to
solve.
The problem is that during an open-water triathlon swim I need to skip
a stroke every so often to lift my head out of the water and site the
next turn buoy. I usually find myself off course by a few yards and
need to make corrections. This costs me time from being off course
and from skipping a stroke. So, I had this idea to take apart an old
digital camera or picture phone and mount the camera part to the back
of my head and attach the LCD part in front of my goggles.
Sound
Will such a device be illegal in competition?- Hide quoted text -

- Show quoted text -
Not yet!

---
But, if it's patented, it'll be illegal for you to build one.


Illegal to sell it, or to profit by using it. But building one for fun?
Don't think so.

Building one for education (to learn the art being taught in the
patent) is fine. Building one to avoid paying for a widget? Very
doubtful, but who is going to come after you?

--
Keith

On Sat, 17 Mar 2007 21:20:44 -0400, krw wrote:

In article ,
says...
John Fields wrote:

---
But, if it's patented, it'll be illegal for you to build one.


Illegal to sell it, or to profit by using it. But building one for fun?
Don't think so.

Building one for education (to learn the art being taught in the
patent) is fine. Building one to avoid paying for a widget? Very
doubtful, but who is going to come after you?

---
Whether someone is going to come after you or not is beside the
point. The law states that the inventor is entitled to benefit from
his effort in inventing and then disclosing the invention for the
benefit of mankind and, without his permission, copies of the
invention for practical use may not be made during the lifetime of
the patent.

Since the OP knows that the device has been patented, if he copies
it without the permission of the inventor then he's infringed the
patent and denied the inventor income which should have accrued to
him.

There really is no problem here, and if the OP wants to copy the
invention and avoid any heartburn at all, all he has to do is get
permission from the owner of the patent.


--
JF