[HP4x] ROM Disassembly

[rprosperi]

(03-23-2015 08:03 PM)Joe Horn Wrote:  Has HP ever released these ancient documents to the public, or given permission for them to be disseminated? If not, they should, because there are lots of goodies in the comments (and in the commented-out sections of code).

Some wisdom which may apply here is: "It's better to ask forgiveness than seek permission". HP (correctly) won't grant permission to disseminate IP like this as doing so could be used (e.g. by a competitor or unhappy partner) to demonstrate that they do not rigorously protect their IP.

The trend for effectively "retired" products is to share it with a disclaimer that it's assumed to be OK, but said sharing will stop upon notification to do so by the owner of the IP.

That said, material released under NDA/CDA could have specific terms prohibiting such release, however such agreements almost always have built-in expiration dates and no doubt have long since become void.