- Feb 4, 2013
- 28,175
Because I am not actually including the data.
The application is an index of everything around the data.
Select Sierra #9377 .224 77gr HPBT Match King as a bullet and it will show you what calibers you can load with that round and what powders are compatible with it for that bullet in a given caliber.
Select H4895 as a powder and it will tell you all of the calibers you can load with it. Select a bullet and it will tell you if that bullet and caliber combo will work.
And it will give you the manual reference and page number to find the manufacturer's load data for all compatible cases. I'm not using anyone's data but directing you to where it is.
To my knowledge it isn't a violation of copyright to organize existing information in different ways when that organization isn't already published. Just like walking through the phone book and making one's own directory of existing businesses that meet certain criteria.
No one is publishing a cross-reference of the top 7 reloading manuals and telling you where to find data across them. But to use my information you still need the manuals. I am simply telling you from the components you select what you can do with them and where to find the information to make it useful.
And to the second question, the data is designed for ongoing updates and is internally versioned. I designed in support for future manuals and the data can be updated over the network. And since I am not displaying load data, I avoid the liability of having someone's gun blow up since I am not giving them the information to make the loads in the first place.
It is really intended as a sales and purchase support tool. In a store looking at a given selection of powder or bullets and want to know if you can use it for your needs? Fire up the app and it will tell you what you can use them for. The great ammo shortage of 2013 inspired this idea.
That's the rough outline of what I am doing. I'm a data junkie and I don't like flipping through manuals to cross-reference components to maximize my reloading dollar and efforts. I'd rather have a computer tell me that my inventory of IMR-4064 and my components can be turned into a given list of loads in order of most to least useful.
I do plan to consult a copyright attorney to vet the idea before an app ever hits the App Store but from the research I've done, I'm not crossing any boundaries. Keep in mind Loadbooks sells photocopied pages of existing load manuals as gathered sets of data and they're still around. So its either fair use (doubtful) or they've got permission from the component producers to do it. And if that is the case, I am pretty certain I can cut a deal to make load data available for the right price even if it includes competitor's products (which Loadbooks already does).
Matt
Ok, cool.
I was not clear on what you were actually doing.