What is the status of HP-41 ROM image copyright?
First, I am not a lawyer so don’t take anything I say as legal advice! Sometime in the 1980’s, Richard Nelson convinced HP to release printed copies of the HP-41 source code. These are stamped: “NOMAS – NOt MAnufacturer Supported, Recipient agrees NOT to contact manufacturer.” This says nothing about the copyright of the software itself. Since then, HP has granted certain people permission to distribute copies of manuals, but apparently not ROM images. As far as I know, I am the only exception. HP granted me permission to distribute “HP-41 calculator materials” from this site and that includes the ROMs. Additionally, any software (like an Emulator) that is downloaded here and includes HP-41 ROMs is also covered. Recently, after careful investigation, the claim was made by Eric Smith that many older HP calculator ROM images, including the HP-41, have fallen into the Public Domain due to the lack of machine readable copyright notice. The claim appears to be true, although copyright law c
