Hey guys, I just realized. What we are paying are called taxes BUT - it's probably a royalty fee, as the IRS must have the patent on air-breathing money earning bipeds, it's just that no one has challenged the patent yet.. John John Burke Senior Manager - Operations , Optichron [log in to unmask] W: 510 249 5233 M: 408 515 4992 http://www.optichron.com Profile: https://www.linkedin.com/e/fps/2665502/ -----Original Message----- From: TechNet [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of Joe Fjelstad Sent: Monday, April 24, 2006 9:09 AM To: [log in to unmask] Subject: Re: [TN] BGA and CGA pad questions. In a message dated 4/24/2006 9:00:04 AM Pacific Daylight Time, [log in to unmask] writes: Very interesting. Does that mean that patent cover the solder mask open window and trace width?. If you simply change nothing on your design, but open up a slot in the solder mask on the trace side of the pad you will get a "keyhole" effect in the final soldered joint automatically. John John Burke Senior Manager - Operations , Optichron [log in to unmask] W: 510 249 5233 M: 408 515 4992 http://www.optichron.com Profile: https://www.linkedin.com/e/fps/2665502/ Hi John, Thinking like a lawyer are you?... RoHS is having that effect on a lot of good engineers lately... ;-) Actually I would argue that you are probably right but would need to make certain by reading the claims which could as a counter point might have a claim to equivalence, something which could possibly be construed from a well crafted claim. Therein lies the art... Best, Joe --------------------------------------------------- Technet Mail List provided as a service by IPC using LISTSERV 1.8e To unsubscribe, send a message to [log in to unmask] with following text in the BODY (NOT the subject field): SIGNOFF Technet To temporarily halt or (re-start) delivery of Technet send e-mail to [log in to unmask]: SET Technet NOMAIL or (MAIL) To receive ONE mailing per day of all the posts: send e-mail to [log in to unmask]: SET Technet Digest Search the archives of previous posts at: http://listserv.ipc.org/archives Please visit IPC web site http://www.ipc.org/contentpage.asp?Pageid=4.3.16 for additional information, or contact Keach Sasamori at [log in to unmask] or 847-615-7100 ext.2815 ----------------------------------------------------- --------------------------------------------------- Technet Mail List provided as a service by IPC using LISTSERV 1.8e To unsubscribe, send a message to [log in to unmask] with following text in the BODY (NOT the subject field): SIGNOFF Technet To temporarily halt or (re-start) delivery of Technet send e-mail to [log in to unmask]: SET Technet NOMAIL or (MAIL) To receive ONE mailing per day of all the posts: send e-mail to [log in to unmask]: SET Technet Digest Search the archives of previous posts at: http://listserv.ipc.org/archives Please visit IPC web site http://www.ipc.org/contentpage.asp?Pageid=4.3.16 for additional information, or contact Keach Sasamori at [log in to unmask] or 847-615-7100 ext.2815 -----------------------------------------------------