This from the AOL board.
Patent Number 5644444
ABSTRACT
A method of inhibiting inadvertent and unauthorized writing and reading of information to and from a storage medium comprises the steps of (a) writing a first code in a predetermined location on the storage medium, the first code being indicative of the first protection mode of the storage medium; (b) receiving a command to change the protection mode of the storage medium from the first protection mode to a second protection mode; and, in
response to the command, (c) writing in the predetermined location on the storage, in place of the first code, a second code indicative of the second protection mode. A protection mode can inhibit writing to the storage medium, both writing and reading to and from the medium, or neither. Changing of protection modes can also be password protected.
Aside from the patents, I think copyright would also pose a problem for anyone wanting to manufacturer ZIP disks. Remember, unlike the old floppy disks, you can't buy an unformatted ZIP disk and format it yourself. You have to buy a pre-formatted disk. The above patent indicates to me at least, that the ZIP disks you buy has to contain specific information in specific locations on the disk. Without it,
I'm guessing, the disk simply will not work. So now, Nomai must not only create a disk with the same physical attributes as a ZIP disk, but also copy at least some of the data from a ZIP disk.
JS
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