[AMRadio] mods.dk and Heath info

[D. Chester]

90% of the content of Heathkit manuals is assembly instructions. Once a kit 
has been built, all the owner needs is schematic, operating instructions, 
theory of operation and troubleshooting data.  In every Heath manual I ever 
saw, this information was contained entirely in just a few pages.

The bottom-feeder is unlikely to have the deep pockets of a large 
corporation for going after copyright violators, especially ones originating 
in a foreign country.  He would have to put up his own legal expenses, and 
the alleged violator would unlikely have enough assets to make legal action 
worthwhile in an international court case. Even if the copyright holder won, 
I doubt that he would be able to even recover his attorney fees from the 
lawsuit, let alone come out ahead by selling photocopies of old Heathkit 
manuals to hams.

Even if he were successful in his effort to enforce his alleged copyright, 
someone with a little determination to provide a service to the ham 
community could by-pass the legalities and publish his own version of the 
manuals by paraphrasing the operating instructions, circuit theory and 
troubleshooting data into his own words, and  redrawing the schematics 
rather than photocopying them.  A re-drawn schematic would not be provable 
as a copyright violation, since one could have reproduced the schematic from 
scratch by tracing the wiring in an actual rig, and there would be no way to 
prove otherwise.

Don k4kyv
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