| ??? 10/05/09 08:19 Read: times Msg Score: +1 +1 Good Answer/Helpful |
#169410 - Quite so! Responding to: ???'s previous message |
Per Westermark said:
Downloading datasheets and making them available on ones own web site is no different from downloading photos from someones Flickr, Photobucket or similar and then presenting them on your site. Legally, as you say, there is no difference; in practice, there may be a difference in the Copyright Owner's attitude to it. The legal position remains the same - whether or not the Copyright Owner choose to take any action on it. As already noted, it is probably unlikely that datasheet publishers would be concerned. However, some big corporations are very up-tight about their "brand" - so it might be the legal eagles from their corporate "branding" department that would be more concerned than their technical publications department... Public domain is a specific term where the author has explicitly released the information Either explicitly release, or the Copyright has expired. The datasheets are only free as in free of charge. But the owner still owns them and is only allowing you to retrieve copies of the documents without paying for it. Absolutely. As Andy notes, the manufacturers may not be too busy hunting illegal distribution of the datasheets. But they have the legal right to do so, which means that it is dangerous to redistribute the documents without having a written agreement. Exactly - at the very least, you should get a professional legal opinion. |
