> > I believe freescale currently owns the architecture,
> Owns it how? 68060-- the last of 68k's designs-- was released in 1994. Any patents should now be expired.
Sure, patents wouldn't be a barrier to clone the design and create an equivalent using the same patented ideas, but copyright still prevents you from copying the design, and will prevent copying significant parts of the design as well.
"Probably" doesn't seem strong enough. I mean, the only thing that would give you any hope of avoiding being sued out of existence leaving nothing but a small greasy spot behind would be obscurity and commercial irrelevance.
Owns it how? 68060-- the last of 68k's designs-- was released in 1994. Any patents should now be expired.