I remember the "golden age" of chip makers in the 80s giving a bookshelf of datasheets to every engineer who asked. (At the time, if you mailed a circuit design

I remember the "golden age" of chip makers in the 80s giving a bookshelf of datasheets to every engineer who asked. (At the time, if you mailed a circuit design to an inside rep, he would also mail you all the chips for free to build it, regardless of price.) Since then, some mfgs. have been restricting datasheets to avoid potential patent litigation. This might be the case here. Possibly another example of death by a thousand cuts as our society gets more regimented.