Put the discussion on hold for the time being. I'm asking bitmine directly for I certainly do not want to be put in the middle of such controversy. I can easily see a number of possibilities for how it has ended in this stalemate, and it is not clear to me that there is incontrovertible evidence saying that JT produced these illegally, nor that any stealing was involved. A statement from bitmine is the only thing that can clear this up one way or another. If bitmine do not respond then I have to assume Innosilicon do indeed have the right to produce exact copies and sell these chips.
I've had official confirmation from bitmine directly that, while they do have ongoing dispute with a Chinese company, that I am free to develop for this device without fear of legal recourse provided the driver does not use the bitmine or coincraft name to reference any aspect of these devices or drivers. They have also said they will only release an official statement once the issue has been resolved. While this more or less confirms my own suspicions with respect to what's going on, I don't feel the need to speculate further on the matter and will return to concentrate purely on the software matters
irrespective of what other people have to say on the issue.