Open-Source Hardware Makers Unite To Start Certifying Products


Thank you. It's interesting. I've read about the certification process and the OSHW definition and I'm slightly confused.
On one hand it seems well meant but a little vague, and you have to read the fine print even when a product is certified (because of scope, components might not be open, or it might be another version, or the license might not be ideal, although that's delimited). On the other hand I don't really know how would I have done it. I keep thinking the free software definition was a better start than the OSS definition or DFSG, but then hardware is not software so you still cannot apply the same principles. It must have been debated for long by more knowledgeable people...

If it is a move that leads to more open hardware, then welcome!
 
My understanding is that if copyright is used where it does not apply, one could rule that it is a common practice.

Which if I'm not mistaken, means copyright (in what is currently a patent sense) would be awarded retroactively to published designs.

That would be the poor mans patent, which is all good, and would require sharing to avoid the broken patent system.

But then we would have a lot of shared designs, that we could not use commercially, with comically long expiration's on them.

In the interim, what are already shared designs? Prior art to a new concept in copyright law, or to patent law.

With one being more lax and more protective, it could go both ways.
 
Back
Top