Being sued by Electronics consultancy - Page 1
Forum section: electronics / general

author: Faringdon
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: April 05, 2023, 06:07:45 pm
content: Hi,I was testing a supposedly superb and totally original, isolated single stage PFC'd SMPS of 150W.(i never had any BOM or schem for it, apart from the one i reverse engineered from the PCB itself)But it was ridiculous. It was just a re-hash of the standard old PFC bias circuit of page 9, fig 5 , of the following...https://www.analog.com/media/en/technical-documentation/data-sheets/1248fd.pdfThe Boost PFC diode has been made synchronous, and they then have to balance the volt.seconds in the forward transformer using software....i mean , how pathetic is that?...no wonder it kept dropping out when i hit it with no load to full load transients.......It also went unstable with regularity.It was quite literally pathetic!I mean, how trash an invention can someone put out there, and then sue someone for them reverse engineering it (because they sent it to me to trial out) and sending the schem to your mate to have a laugh about?

author: ataradov
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: April 05, 2023, 06:23:35 pm
content: If you are being sued, were you not advised by your lawyer to no talk about the case?But in reality this is just another made up story. We all know you are the best PSU designer out there.

author: RJSV
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: April 05, 2023, 06:32:16 pm
content: Yeah, sorry but a quick, 1 second check and, "Oh wait...that's THAT OP, again..."Best you change your blog handle...again(But I'm a bit crackpot, too)!

author: Gyro
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: April 05, 2023, 06:36:44 pm
content: Quote from: Faringdon on April 05, 2023, 06:07:45 pmHmmm.

author: SiliconWizard
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: April 05, 2023, 07:19:08 pm
content: Quote from: Faringdon on April 05, 2023, 06:07:45 pmIs it ridiculous to base your designs on application notes?Quote from: Faringdon on April 05, 2023, 06:07:45 pmThat may not look like much, but possibly a sizable improvement for efficiency.Quote from: Faringdon on April 05, 2023, 06:07:45 pmAre you telling us that using software to control a power supply is pathetic and leads to utterly unreliable operation?Weren't you the one that told us you offered to use a MCU to control some power supply on a contract for military gear and got mad when the client told you they wanted something purely hardware and didn't want any firmware in it? Or do I not remember properly.Quote from: Faringdon on April 05, 2023, 06:07:45 pmMaybe, we have to take your word for it.But what made you so mad about this design to begin with?Quote from: Faringdon on April 05, 2023, 06:07:45 pmAnyone is free to put any invention they like out there. Then regulations and markets take care of the rest.Quote from: Faringdon on April 05, 2023, 06:07:45 pmWhy did you do this to begin with and why did you make it public enough that the inventor went as far as suing you?I guess they wouldn't have bothered to sue if that was all just a quick laugh between coworkers.As an engineer, do your work as well as you can but don't belittle the work of others, especially publicly. That will backfire sooner or later.Sure this may all be just a fake story as many suspect your stories are. We'll never know.

author: jpanhalt
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: April 05, 2023, 07:54:54 pm
content: Quote from: Faringdon on April 05, 2023, 06:07:45 pmYou are a bit late posting that joke. April 1 was last Saturday.

author: RJSV
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: April 05, 2023, 08:19:15 pm
content: Bragg's (DA) office wants to speak with you...(Something about some frauds, somewhere.)Hope I'm not wasting your time, with ridiculous...gotta go cut the lawn, now. Spring yard trash pick-up and all.

author: vk6zgo
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: April 06, 2023, 12:48:58 am
content: Quote from: SiliconWizard on April 05, 2023, 07:19:08 pmNot at all, that's why so many do just that.If you then claim IP over it,thatis ridiculous.QuoteI don't think there is a single piece of poorly designed equipment in existence that hasn't been publicly "panned" by thousands.QuoteSeeing it is Faringdon/Trees/ whatever, it probably is fake.

author: jonpaul
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: April 06, 2023, 01:29:01 am
content: FTTS, can we all join in a class action lawsuit against you, for wasting our time?Your lawyers contact information?Enjoy!JonPS... consulting customers normally execute a liability and hold harmless agreement before the consultant is accepting a job.Enjoy!

author: Black Phoenix
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: April 06, 2023, 03:12:45 am
content: Quote from: Faringdon on April 05, 2023, 06:07:45 pmHow important do you think you are that someone (or a company) will lose time (that is money) getting a case against you?I think you need a reality check (and yes I checked the username...).

author: nali
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: April 06, 2023, 07:30:26 am
content: Quote from: Faringdon on April 05, 2023, 06:07:45 pmI'm curious as to what you're being suedforexactly. Is it that PSU you hadn't paid for and managed to blow up, now they want you to pay for it?

author: ebastler
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: April 06, 2023, 08:18:43 am
content: Quote from: Faringdon on April 05, 2023, 06:07:45 pmCould you please state clearlywhatthey are sueing (or threatening to sue) you for? I can't see how you would get sued for "reverse engineering" anything as long as you do it in private and don't share the results. I can certainly see how you could get sued for breach of a non-disclosure agreement, if the other party has provided you with theirschematicscircuit under such NDA and you then share that and/or your analysis with someone else.If this is about a breach of NDA, what you would usually have to prove is that you have known about the "confidential" circuit before, or that you have learned about it from an independent, non-confidential source after receiving the "confidential" disclosure. All reasonable NDAs have provisions that make received information non-confidential under these circumstances.Even if youcanshow that, you may still have a problem if you disclosed to your mate the name of the company you are working with, their intent to use this design, the purpose/product they want to use it for, and similar proprietary information which may fall under the scope of the NDA.

author: tom66
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: April 06, 2023, 09:38:39 am
content: I call ****. The UK is not like the US where it's super easy to sue someone and force them to settle in fear of crippling legal fees. In the UK, both sides pay for their respective fees, and judges will only award legal fees in the case of malice on the other party. So we don't have that many lawsuits which are on no reasonable basis at all, and "SLAPP" style lawsuits are uncommon.

author: jpanhalt
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: April 06, 2023, 11:23:24 am
content: Quote from: tom66 on April 06, 2023, 09:38:39 amFYIIn the "American system" both sides pay their own legal fees.* That is starkly different from other countries where the loser is generally liable. It is difficult to get fees awarded in the US, unless there is an agreement to the contrary. The problem with such agreements is that our courts interpret them reciprocally (may vary by states), and generally, the award goes to the side with the greatest monetary damages.** However, one can sue for damages just as you can sue a ham sandwich, but that's an uphill battle.*Such fees are generally not tax deductible. Take a typical tort case where the plaintiff wins $1,000,000. That (with certain exceptions) is counted as income to the plaintiff. The plaintiff pays income tax first (say 49% state and Federal) and pays their attorney based on the full amount (say 40%). That leaves the plaintiff with $110,000. Plaintiff attorneys ("contingency fee attorneys") have argued that such "double taxation" is unfair. Their proposed solution is to make fees tax deductible, not to make their contingency fee based on net after taxes -- no surprise there.**Of note, Gwyneth Paltrow (actress) counter sued for $1 and attorney fees. She won the $1 (greatest monetary damages) and got attorney fees by effectively proving the plaintiff's case was baseless. Whether she will be able to collect is another question.

author: coppercone2
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: April 06, 2023, 04:19:49 pm
content: the reason you can make good money doing simple shit is because your supposed to consider it a black boxa good engineer that considers itworkdoes the work required, submits report, gets paid. Anidiotdoes unpaid work. If you just wrote a note that explained it broke during test X you would not be making this thread.If you did what you were supposed to do, you would have more cash come to you in the future when they ask you to test revision #2 of whatever.

author: RJSV
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: April 06, 2023, 07:50:41 pm
content: Ah, I see you can read / thank...but no respond.No respond.Here is, I discovered a few years back, here is one of the most rude expression a person could make...:YOU were asked a question.

author: SiliconWizard
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: April 06, 2023, 08:10:19 pm
content: We can consider this entertainment, though.

author: alm
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: April 06, 2023, 08:24:05 pm
content: Quote from: RJHayward on April 06, 2023, 07:50:41 pmAre you new here? Of course nothing useful will come out of this thread. Just treat it as entertainment, like a drunk person who is asking you a question, to which you give an answer to entertain you and your friends, rather than for the benefit of that drunk person.