Hardware Reference
In-Depth Information
3.
Licensing Open Source Hardware
Michael Weinberg
“Gu's shoulders slumped, and Juan got a closer look at the component boxes.
Every one had physical signage: NO USER-SERVICEABLE PARTS WITHIN.”
—Vernor Vinge,
Rainbows End
For many people, a key component of open source is the license that is attached to the pro-
ject. But what is a license, and what role does licensing play in open source hardware? This
chapter covers the different types of intellectual property (IP) and the basics of IP licensing
with respect to open source hardware. The good news is that most hardware is born open.
Unless it is explicitly covered by a patent, most hardware is available to be copied, im-
proved, and built upon by default. This chapter is written from the perspective of U.S. law.
Of course, this chapter is merely an introduction to the topic of licensing and should not
serve as a substitute for legal advice. It's always a good idea to talk to a lawyer before mak-
ing specific licensing decisions.
Licensing
A
license
is permission to do something. Usually, that permission is conditioned on some
sort of behavior or action. For example, a movie theater owner obtains a license from a stu-
dio to show a new movie. In return for permission to show the movie, the theater owner
promises to pay the studio a percentage of the revenue generated by ticket sales. Because the
movie studio owns the copyright in the movie, if the movie theater owner decided to show a
movie without a license from the studio, the studio could sue the theater owner for copyright
infringement.
Critically, if you do not need permission to do something, you do not need a license. In
the movie theater example, the theater owner needed permission from the studio to show
the movie because the right to show a movie is one of the rights that flows from owning a
copyright in a work. However, the theater owner does not need permission—a li-
cense—from the studio owner to discuss the movie with her friend. That is because copy-
right law does not prevent people from discussing movies, so having such a conversation
without a license does not open the theater owner up to an infringement lawsuit.
There is one additional twist on needing and giving licenses. A license is only worth
something from someone with the power to grant it. The theater owner does not just need
