Hi all,

now that the original ARM patents are (supposedly!) expired, anyone can des=
ign
a CPU (I do not mean copy an existing ARM core, but design one from scratch=
)
and not incur in patent infringment?

And, when the original ARM patents were still in place, was it legal to des=
ign
and sell a CPU binary-compatible with ARM (not licensing anything of course=
)?

This of course depends if the opcodes were part of their patent, but assumi=
ng
they were..

Just (very) curious. Of all the CPU's I programmed for (many), I think the =
ARM
has the most beautiful instruction set. Expecially the "all instructions ar=
e
conditional", although not exclusive of ARM, is just so nice on it.

Thanks,
Mario

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