Hardware Reference
In-Depth Information
Conclusion
Whether you read only parts of this topic or the entire thing, I hope you found the communal
advice useful. Many of the authors can be found giving talks on YouTube or Vimeo on their
subject matter or on topics related to open source hardware. This topic sought to cover the
theoretical side of open source hardware from historical and economical viewpoints as well
as the practices and methods used to create a piece of open source hardware. It prepared
you for the holistic experience of open source hardware from designing to manufacturing,
and outlined the benefits, standards, and incentives for such efforts. As stated many times
throughout this topic, the open source hardware movement is young and malleable. Whether
you're just joining the discussion or have been part of the community since the beginning,
there will be many more decisions to be made, many more changes to endure, and many
more projects to build!
Changing Incentives
On the one hand, open source hardware is a young movement gaining popularity in the last
decade. On the other hand, open source hardware has been around for as long as people
were inventing things, from repair manuals to patterns and recipes. The patent system was
designed to document and share the synthesis of your invention, although one might argue
the original design and incentives of the patent system no longer correlate with the contem-
porary patent system. The rise of open source hardware occurred partially in response to
the frustrations associated with the current patent system. When patents were first created,
they were meant to incentivize inventors. Today's inventors, however, are looking for other
incentives than patents, and some find a motivation for sharing their hardware in the know-
ledge that they'll receive attribution and share-alike licensing.
The patent application process has become a behemoth of litigation, paperwork, and
high price points; that is, for many small businesses the price to apply for a patent is too
high, and the price to defend a patent is well out of their reach. The paperwork to get a pat-
ent and the timeline to wait for one hinders innovation as it is too time consuming and the
patent is out of date by the time it gets awarded.
The patent system has also been subjected to criticism on becoming too loose in its
definition of “unique.” Indeed, it has had to back-pedal on some patents, such as the patent
Google obtained for the base functionality of a cellphone. As lawyer Tom Ewing pointed
out in an interview on
This American Life
, “It took 121 years for us to get the first 1 million
question to be answered: “Have humans really become 10 times more innovative since last
