I believe that what Prof Kamau has done is the dissasembly, cataloguing and indexing of the <b>components</b> of the STB, including how they are interconnected, the circuit board designs, internal and external interfaces etc...<br>
<br>This then serves as the basis to be able to procure same or similar - adapt the designs in order to come up with a local version, ostensibly at a lower cost.<br><br>Patents in such hardware are held by the chip manufacturers - Prof would be offending if what he was doing was trying to &#39;hack&#39; the chip in order to produce his own version. That would be a grossly expensive and in all likelihood, foolhardy pursuit. It&#39;s much easier (and cheaper), once the components have been identified to purchase them from the same manufacturer and simply do the assembly here - with whatever local modifications may be required.<br>
<br>I remember that when we started messing around with computer assembly in the early 90s - the furore from the &quot;branded&quot; companies - with all kinds of threats regarding patents, copyrights etc...<br><br>I simply see this as determination of components for local assembly of STBs.<br>
<br>I&#39;m sure the good professor is wise, intelligent and educated enough to know that patent infringement could land himself in a heap of trouble.<br><br>Regards,<br><br>Brian<br><br><div class="gmail_quote">On Tue, Feb 9, 2010 at 9:07 AM, Walubengo J <span dir="ltr">&lt;<a href="mailto:jwalu@yahoo.com">jwalu@yahoo.com</a>&gt;</span> wrote:<br>
<blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="border-left: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204); margin: 0pt 0pt 0pt 0.8ex; padding-left: 1ex;"><table border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0"><tbody><tr><td style="font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; font-size: inherit; line-height: inherit; font-size-adjust: inherit; font-stretch: inherit;" valign="top">
@Andrea,<br><br>Reverse engineering - or patent infringement?<br><br>If I was Prof. Kamau, I would carefully ride on both - depending on the convenience of the laws applicable and the demand for public good. Draw the parallel with generic HIV medicines...<br>
<br>walu.<br><br>--- On <b>Tue, 2/9/10, Andrea Bohnstedt <i>&lt;<a href="mailto:andrea.bohnstedt@ratio-magazine.com" target="_blank">andrea.bohnstedt@ratio-magazine.com</a>&gt;</i></b> wrote:<br><blockquote style="border-left: 2px solid rgb(16, 16, 255); margin-left: 5px; padding-left: 5px;">
<br>From: Andrea Bohnstedt &lt;<a href="mailto:andrea.bohnstedt@ratio-magazine.com" target="_blank">andrea.bohnstedt@ratio-magazine.com</a>&gt;<br>Subject: Re: [kictanet] Getting a hold on cybercrime against women (cyber pests!)<br>
To: <a href="mailto:jwalu@yahoo.com" target="_blank">jwalu@yahoo.com</a><br>Cc: &quot;KICTAnet ICT Policy Discussions&quot; &lt;<a href="mailto:kictanet@lists.kictanet.or.ke" target="_blank">kictanet@lists.kictanet.or.ke</a>&gt;<br>
Date: Tuesday, February 9, 2010, 12:40 AM<br><br><div>Reverse engineering - or patent infringement?<br><br><div class="gmail_quote">On 8 February 2010 21:01,  <span dir="ltr">&lt;<a rel="nofollow" href="http://mc/compose?to=bitange@jambo.co.ke" target="_blank">bitange@jambo.co.ke</a>&gt;</span> wrote:<br>
<blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="border-left: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204); margin: 0pt 0pt 0pt 0.8ex; padding-left: 1ex;">
Dear listers,<br>
Prof. Kamau, University of Nairobi&#39;s engineering school has successifully reverse engineered the converter box for digital TV.  Those willing to visit the fab lab next week should register with Awiti in my office.  His e-mail is <a rel="nofollow" href="http://mc/compose?to=nawiti@information.go.ke" target="_blank">nawiti@information.go.ke</a>.<br>


<br>
I am hoping soon we can reverse engineer the ipad so that we can use it to distribute e-books to all kids in the country and avoid this theft of textbooks.<br>
<br>
Regards.<br>
<br>
Ndemo.<br>
Sent from my BlackBerry®<br>
<br>
-----Original Message-----<br>
From: &quot;muriuki mureithi&quot; &lt;<a rel="nofollow" href="http://mc/compose?to=mureithi@summitstrategies.co.ke" target="_blank">mureithi@summitstrategies.co.ke</a>&gt;<br>
Date: Wed, 3 Feb 2010 18:14:20<br>
To: &lt;<a rel="nofollow" href="http://mc/compose?to=bitange@jambo.co.ke" target="_blank">bitange@jambo.co.ke</a>&gt;<br>
Cc: KICTAnet ICT Policy Discussions&lt;<a rel="nofollow" href="http://mc/compose?to=kictanet@lists.kictanet.or.ke" target="_blank">kictanet@lists.kictanet.or.ke</a>&gt;<br>
Subject: [kictanet] Getting a hold on cybercrime against women (cyber pests!)<br>
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<br></blockquote></div><br><br clear="all"><br>-- <br>Brian Munyao Longwe<br>e-mail: <a href="mailto:blongwe@gmail.com">blongwe@gmail.com</a><br>cell:  + 254 722 518 744<br>blog : <a href="http://zinjlog.blogspot.com">http://zinjlog.blogspot.com</a><br>
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