[Discuss] Is CC BY-NC-SA not Open Source Hardware?

[Windell H. Oskay]

On Apr 10, 2014, at 10:38 PM, Drew Fustini <pdp7pdp7 at gmail.com> wrote:

> Hi - I'd like to get the opinion of the list.  I recently came to realize that PrintrBot design files are licensed under CC BY-SA-NC (Non-Commercial).  For example: http://printrbot.com/2014/03/17/printrbot-jr-v2-files-are-available-non-commercial/
> 
> This seems to disqualify it from being Open Source Hardware per the OSHWA definition:
> http://www.oshwa.org/definition/
> "Open source hardware is hardware whose design is made publicly available so that anyone can study, modify, distribute, make, and sell the design or hardware based on that design." 
> 
> The best practices go on to state:
> http://www.oshwa.org/sharing-best-practices/
> "Note that the definition of open-source hardware specifies that you must allow modification and commercial re-use of your design, so avoid licenses with a no-derivatives or non-commercial clause."
> 
> It would seem based on this that I shouldn't refer to Printrbot as Open Source Hardware.  Is it best to just describe it as CC BY-SA-NC?

Hi Drew,
Yes, that's correct.  If they're using an "NC" license, they don't also get to advertise it as OSHW.  For simplicity, it's usually fine to refer to things like this as "released under a creative commons license." 

-Windell