Legality of CADing components before build season?

[Nemo]

Originally Posted by Hawiian Cadder

My take on the rules this year was that you can use designs from prior years as long as the CAD were open sourced. I wouldn't apply this to all models though, for example, making a model of something that you already have and plan to use, however the manufacturer doesn't release CAD Models.

The 2011 rules allow the reuse of software if it is open sourced, but there is nothing in there about open sourcing CAD files.

The relevant rules section is "fabrication schedule" on page 12 of the robot section of the manual.

The most pertinent passage:

Example: A TEAM designs and builds a two-speed shifting transmission during the fall as a training exercise. When designing their competition ROBOT, they utilize all the design principles they learned. To optimize the transmission design for their ROBOT, they improve the transmission gear ratios and reduce the size, and build two new transmissions, and place them on the ROBOT. All parts of this process are permitted activities.
Example: The same TEAM realizes that the transmission designed and built in the fall perfectly fits their need for a transmission to drive the ROBOT arm. They build an exact copy of the transmission from the original design plans, and bolt it to the ROBOT. This would be prohibited, as the transmission – although fabricated during the competition season – was built from detailed designs developed prior to kick-off.