johnnystarr wrote on 2020-07-14, 15:11:
@darry, @joseph_joestar,
Thank you for the input. I appreciate all the research! So its safe to say that because Yamaha and Benq provided these originally for their products, these drivers aren't the same as say "a proprietary ROM"?
Obviously, drivers are required to run devices. I just wanted to make sure they were coming from reputable sources.
Just to be clear, I am not a lawyer and this is just my, possibly erroneous, understanding and not any kind of legal advice ,
Nearly all drivers are proprietary software as are most ROMs in hardware products. The key points to consider are
a) is (re-)distribution allowed ?
b) are there strings attached to use (like owning the product the driver or ROM was meant for) ?
Point a) is usually an implicit yes, since drivers and upgrade ROMs were distributed freely by manufacturers over the Internet, on bulletin boards, on shareware/freeware/driver CDs (not to say drivers are freeware, I am just describing the distribution mediums) etc . There may have been exceptions where re-distribution by a third party was explicitly prohibited, but with the original source often gone and the re-distributed drivers not always coming with terms of use, how are we, in good faith, to know ?
This is different from a ROM that was dumped from a device and never distributed publicly by the manufacturer to begin with .
As for point b) , you first have to consider that many drivers are actually made by chip manufacturers, these are referred to as reference drivers . Specific card or hardware manufacturers will use chips and then sometimes customize their reference drivers to their actual products. Sometimes this is just aesthetic skinning, other times specific functionality is added or customized. These are called OEM drivers (OEM stands for original equipment manufacturer). Actual use of an OEM driver is usually tied, by terms of use, to actually owning the device the driver is meant for . Reference drivers are likely OK to use on any device based on the chip the said drivers were written for (this does not always work in practice because some devices are different enough from the chip manufacturer's reference design that OEM drivers are absolutely required) .
If, for example, we look at VIDE-CDD.SYS specifically, though the driver was meant for specific Benq models, I can find no restriction on the WEB page or the driver package as to specific terms of use that would legally prevent its use with another product .
Finally, to close the subject, consider that terms of use are not always enforceable in part or in whole and that there are so called fair-use exceptions that may come into play, depending on jurisdiction . If you are worried about legal ramifications, my best advice is consult a lawyer from your jurisdiction and have him vet anything you may have heard or read on the subject, including the content of this post since, as mentioned before, I am not a lawyer .
