> Does anyone have any experience open sourcing a hardware platform?
> We're working an interesting solar hot water panel design and are keen to hack the traditional patent IP mess and business models to get the design into the hands of makers globally … and are some ways down this track.
> Key piece is to open source the hardware.
> I've been chatting with our IP guy. After sitting through his rant (actually started reciting Adam Smith to me - funny - but he is american) and the potential, apparently, that capitalism may very well end as a result of this action. Perhaps only his $600/hr fees. The conclusion is that it is relatively simple, and much like selecting a creative commons license.
> Has anyone done this? Happy to shout the coffee to pick your brains on this.
> > Does anyone have any experience open sourcing a hardware platform?
> > We're working an interesting solar hot water panel design and are keen to
> > hack the traditional patent IP mess and business models to get the design
> > into the hands of makers globally … and are some ways down this track.>
> > Key piece is to open source the hardware.
> > I've been chatting with our IP guy. After sitting through his rant
> > (actually started reciting Adam Smith to me - funny - but he is american)
> > and the potential, apparently, that capitalism may very well end as a
> > result of this action. Perhaps only his $600/hr fees. The conclusion is
> > that it is relatively simple, and much like selecting a creative commons
> > license.>
> > Has anyone done this? Happy to shout the coffee to pick your brains on
> > this.
For my early designs (before "open source" was even a word) I just declared designs to be in the public domain, people didn't know what to make of them.
>> We're working an interesting solar hot water panel design and are keen
>> to hack the traditional patent IP mess and business models to get the
>> design into the hands of makers globally … and are some ways down this
>> track.
>> Key piece is to open source the hardware.
>> I've been chatting with our IP guy. After sitting through his rant
>> (actually started reciting Adam Smith to me - funny - but he is
>> american) and the potential, apparently, that capitalism may very well
>> end as a result of this action. Perhaps only his $600/hr fees. The
>> conclusion is that it is relatively simple, and much like selecting a
>> creative commons license.
>> Has anyone done this? Happy to shout the coffee to pick your brains on
>> this.
>> Does anyone have any experience open sourcing a hardware platform?
The Reprap project has just gone with GPLv2 - or later (http://www.reprap.org/wiki/RepRapGPLLicence) with the rationale that the design files are software so there is nothing extra needed but that means that only the designs and not the actual hardware instance are specifically licensed. In the US at least, electronic designs are protected by patents, not copyright so there may well be issues in the future.
But there was a group of people that have got together and tried to hammer out what the meaning of "Open Source Hardware" actually is so you can identify it by a logo: http://freedomdefined.org/OSHW and from that a small number of hardware specific licenses have been created. The best list I can find in 10 minutes of searching is the wikipedia article http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Open-source_hardware which has a few broken links but includes the two I've heard about: TAPR and CERN. Together they are only a dozen pages to read so you can at least read them and see what you think of them.
On Tuesday, October 16, 2012 2:11:32 PM UTC+13, David Quinn wrote:
> All
> Does anyone have any experience open sourcing a hardware platform?
> We're working an interesting solar hot water panel design and are keen to > hack the traditional patent IP mess and business models to get the design > into the hands of makers globally … and are some ways down this track.
> Key piece is to open source the hardware.
> I've been chatting with our IP guy. After sitting through his rant > (actually started reciting Adam Smith to me - funny - but he is american) > and the potential, apparently, that capitalism may very well end as a > result of this action. Perhaps only his $600/hr fees. The conclusion is > that it is relatively simple, and much like selecting a creative commons > license.
> Has anyone done this? Happy to shout the coffee to pick your brains on > this.
David, I was curious about this myself, so I asked Richard Stallman
during the Q&A after his session on software patents. Here's what I
learned from that, and further research.
A patent can only be granted for an invention that is both non-obvious
and original. The originality test is failed if there is "prior art"
which publicly describes the invention, or something so similar to it
that the new design is an obvious variant of that described in the
"prior art".
So if you want to "open source" your hardware design, all you actually
have to do is publish documentation of it on a publicly-accessible
website (preferably under a CreativeCommons license ;), like
Appropedia.org, or opensourceecology.org. That description then
becomes "prior art", which will invalidate any patent on your
invention.
Having said that, I think there is value in standardising "open
hardware" license(s) and logo(s), just as standard licenses and logos
have emerged for free code/ open source software, so that potential
users know at a glance what conditions apply to using an "open"
design, or a product based on it. This may become more important when
it comes to getting designs manufactured by businesses, as they are
more conservative about risk, and will want to be sure they're not
going to end up liable for patent violation.
I'd be very keen to have a look at your solar designs sometime.
He mihi nui
Strypey
On 16 October 2012 14:11, David Quinn <david.audaci...@gmail.com> wrote:
> All
> Does anyone have any experience open sourcing a hardware platform?
> We're working an interesting solar hot water panel design and are keen to
> hack the traditional patent IP mess and business models to get the design
> into the hands of makers globally … and are some ways down this track.
-- Danyl Strype
Community Developer
Disintermedia.net.nz/strype
"Geeks are those who partake in our culture."
- .ISOcrates
"Both Marxists and Chicago-school libertarian economists can agree
that free software is the best model."
- Keith C Curtis
http://keithcu.com/wordpress/?page_id=407
