[Discuss] 3D printing might allow for an enforceable open hardware license

[Matt Maier]

 From the article<http://jipel.law.nyu.edu/2013/04/three-dimensional-printing-and-open-source-hardware/>
...
"a robust open hardware framework must ensure that obligations of
attribution and documentation are easily passed through complex supply
chains, and that any such requirements are relatively frictionless and
impose minimal transaction costs. The TAPR and CERN licenses, which do not
address downstream recipients at all, do not provide an adequate framework
for the easy integration of open hardware in these settings."

"Current open hardware framework [copyright, patents, contracts], however,
cannot easily impose documentation or attribution obligations on downstream
users, and cannot enforce their terms with effective legal remedies. Even
so, an open hardware license that satisfies these requirements can be built
in the technological context of three-dimensional printing."

"The manufacture of a physical object in an automated three-dimensional
printing process, however, will infringe the copyright of the underlying
design file...the use of digital designs and automated manufacturing
creates a physical article that corresponds directly to the specifications
of the digital design, and which requires the copying and transformation of
the original digital file. As such, without a license, the use of the
design file in a three-dimensional printing process will infringe the
copyright in the design file."
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://lists.oshwa.org/pipermail/discuss/attachments/20130426/28f23fe0/attachment.html>