This response comes from my husband who is an attorney. It is a follow up to the copyright discussion from last week. ----------------------------------------- Regarding whether copyright will protect the design of a PWB, the answer is "it depends." But first the disclaimer: This is an off the cuff answer to a theoretical question. Do not treat it as legal advice. As a general matter, copyright covers "original works of authorship in a tangible medium of expression." A creative designer could use a PWB as a canvas for his or her artistic efforts. In that case, the PWB would be subject to copyright protection because the board would be the expression of the author's ideas. But that is not much help to the industry. A utilitarian PWB designed not for aesthetics but to a customer's specs for a given product, presents a harder question. To the extent the designers make creative decisions in the path layout that are _not_ dictated by engineering considerations, the board could be subject to copyright protection. If, however, the paths are placed based on an algorithm designed to create the shortest paths over the least surface area, with the least thermal radiation, etc., the "expression" will have "merged" into the design of the product and there will be no copyright. This is why things like the recipes, lists of ingredients and telephone directories generally do not have copyright protection. I will post this question to an on-line forum for copyright lawyers and see if the answers are different. Larry Friedman Barnes Richardson and Colburn