[asterisk-biz] Knockoff TDM400 Cards - What's the Deal?

[Rusty Dekema]

> It sounds like you know the answer already.

Sorry, you've got the wrong idea. I don't play games of that sort. If
I knew the answer, I wouldn't have asked the question. I'm not trying
to seek anyone's moral approval of the idea of buying these cards
whether or not they violate Digium's US IP rights. I simply want to
know whether or not the cards do indeed violate those rights.

Yes, it seems reasonable to suspect that no-one besides Digium makes
these cards in the US because doing so would be illegal. That's why I
asked the question. But, it strikes me as just as reasonable to
suspect that Digium already manufactures their cards in an efficient
manner, that no US company can do so in a significantly cheaper
manner, and that that is why no-one in the US makes such knockoffs.

If, for example, Digium designed the TDM400 cards using designs from
"open" reference schematics (like Zapata Telephony's T1 cards, except
for POTS), then another company could quite conceivably decide to
manufacture a similar card based on the same reference design. Again,
I don't know whether something like this happened or not; that's why I
asked.

If anyone knows the answer to my question, I would still like to know.

Thanks,
Rusty