hi,
Andy, you wrote: Plenty of firms sub-contract their device programming requirements and ...

... and I doubt that in such case they provide nothing but master chip only. I doubt as well that at case you described, a subcontractor should contact any public forums instead of master firm and perhaps MCU vendors.

Indeed, I agree that it is not correct to accuse of illegal copying; Mak KINI - my apology.

Regards,
Oleg