A few other comments. As for "stealing other people's designs", I guess that goes on in every industry. If somebody has a good design and it is not patented, he can expect others to copy and even improve on it. What is the saying? Imitation is the sincerest form of flattery. The Japanese are great at that. The only thing I know of that the Japanese actually invented was the Yagi (beam) antenna..named, of course, after Mr. Yagi. The Japanese are master of taking a design of someone else and improving on it. Looks like the Chinese are doing that and improving on things as well. Too bad, we are getting left behind. Look at automobiles today...most look like the design was taken from a wedge that holds a door open...sort of low in the front and a bustle on the back. IMHO ugly as can be. Surely the entire industry could not have come up with such ugly designs by themselves. They copied somebody elses fashion. The servo amplifier designed by Bob Elliott, again, was the first servo amplifier circuit that did not use a center tapped 4.8 pack to work. It was copied universally. Not patented, and better than anything else...and everyone copied it. For myself, I can say, in my own defense, that the servo amplifier I desgned for Citizenship was my own design and I did not copy anyone else. So there !!!
Regards to all,
Frank Schwartz