From: Rainer Buchty (buchty_at_cs.tum.edu)
Date: 2004-06-18 14:28:19
> The connectors, yes, but the way it is used, no. The fact that IBM didn't
> patent their ISA-bus enabled other firms to clone its PC's.
Actually, the reason why people could come up with clones was that IBM
didn't patent the *BIOS*.
The ISA bus itself is a straightforward 8086 bus. What they could probably
do is put a trademark on the arrangement of the ISA bus lines preventing
other people from creating PCs using this very pinout, but they can't
keep 3rd party vendors from building ISA peripherals.
Rainer
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