Robin Electronics test gear

I doubt the patents are long gone, as the company is still trading and selling testing equipment.

www.farnell.com/.../1795216.pdf

Anything patented in the UK or EU before 2004 is now out of patent. However while if you have a copy of the circuit from that date  the patent covering the ideas is out of date, the copyright on the drawing isn't and  you have to wait at least 70 years for drawings, and rather more for text, to be able to copy it without a small risk of the rights holder coming forward and demanding compensation,this is how 'happy birthday' music only entered the public domain here in 2017, despite being first written down in print in 1912.

The rules on copyright and patents are not well aligned, partly due to the big legal boots of large entertainment companies like Disney and Warner entertainments. No such legal effort has ever gone into patent protections, and personally I think copyright is rather overdone (but I think all the patents with my name on are either already lapsed or will soon.)

That said, design data for a lot of electronic kit that is much younger than that has entered the public domain, and it is rarely in the interest of the copyright holder to bother to chase it and in many cases the legal entity that may have copyright does not even exist any more after buyouts, mergers and so on.

More critically circuits for Robin test-gear, and other makes for that matter are very hard to come by when compared to things like TVs and computers,  though I have had some success asking in vintage electronics fora.

In the meantime, here is hoping for more sensible 'right to repair' legislation making information accessible at a sensible price point.

Mike.

Anything patented in the UK or EU before 2004 is now out of patent. However while if you have a copy of the circuit from that date  the patent covering the ideas is out of date, the copyright on the drawing isn't and  you have to wait at least 70 years for drawings, and rather more for text, to be able to copy it without a small risk of the rights holder coming forward and demanding compensation,this is how 'happy birthday' music only entered the public domain here in 2017, despite being first written down in print in 1912.

The rules on copyright and patents are not well aligned, partly due to the big legal boots of large entertainment companies like Disney and Warner entertainments. No such legal effort has ever gone into patent protections, and personally I think copyright is rather overdone (but I think all the patents with my name on are either already lapsed or will soon.)

That said, design data for a lot of electronic kit that is much younger than that has entered the public domain, and it is rarely in the interest of the copyright holder to bother to chase it and in many cases the legal entity that may have copyright does not even exist any more after buyouts, mergers and so on.

More critically circuits for Robin test-gear, and other makes for that matter are very hard to come by when compared to things like TVs and computers,  though I have had some success asking in vintage electronics fora.

In the meantime, here is hoping for more sensible 'right to repair' legislation making information accessible at a sensible price point.

Mike.

Thanks Mike,

I asked here first thinking there would be lots of people familiar with the kit. Yes once it's out of patent why hang on to it? Obviously that is not the whole story, especially when you just want to fix something. My proposal is that some time after a product is discontinued the data should be released. I know it is possible to reverse engineer the schematic, especially in this case with only a double sided board.  Vintage electronics here I come....