[Discuss] Protecting ourselves from getting sued?

[Matt Maier]

To be honest that was kind of a cop-out on my part. Like I said, I'm not
intimately familiar with the details of practicing patent law. I can
speculate that there might be big differences if the two parties are in
different countries. Like, if you make something that infringes a US
patent, but you're not in the US, then the patent holder might decide
you're not worth the trouble since they'd probably have to get a patent in
your country. They might decide that your thing doesn't actually infringe
their patent, or that it's not close enough to be sure. The people who own
the patent might not like the idea of suing anyone at all (some people just
get patents out of habit). The patent holder might only budget for defense
and not have any money put towards offense. The patent holder might do most
of their actual business in related technologies, so people using your
thing are actually giving them more business.

Those are just off the top of my head. I assume there are a lot more
possible reasons for someone to just not decide to take any legal action.
Was that helpful?

On Sat, Mar 7, 2015 at 8:40 AM, Alex J V <alex at makeystreet.com> wrote:

> Hi Matt,
>
> Thank you for your feedback. Yes it is under - Commercial clause.
>
> You mentioned - "Even if they do notice you, they might decide what
> you're doing isn't a problem (for a variety of reasons)." I am curious to
> know what are the "variety of reasons". Can you elaborate?
>
>
> Alex
> ᐧ
>
> On Sat, Mar 7, 2015 at 9:49 PM, Matt Maier <blueback09 at gmail.com> wrote:
>
>> Hey Alex, this isn't legal advice (and it's based on US law anyway), but
>> the way I understand it is that the design files and the idea embodied in
>> the design are different.
>>
>> As long as you create your own design files from scratch you don't have
>> to worry about copyright.
>>
>> Whatever you physically make is subject to patent law. It's possible for
>> anyone with a patent similar to what you build to sue you for infringement
>> and make you defend yourself in court. You can get around any patents they
>> might have just by building something slightly different, however, if they
>> sue you then you'll still have to spent time and money in court proving
>> that you didn't infringe (or settle before it gets to court).
>>
>> It's unlikely that any of your projects will be so successful that
>> they'll attract the attention of a patent holder. Even if they do notice
>> you, they might decide what you're doing isn't a problem (for a variety of
>> reasons). In the unlikely case a patent holder does take legal action the
>> most likely first step is some kind of stop-doing-that letter. One of the
>> strengths of open source hardware is speed and flexibility, so you can just
>> stop selling that thing, or change the design so that it no longer
>> infringes. If it's a stable design that's selling well then you might just
>> reach an agreement to license the patent so you'd just pay the patent
>> holder a fee for each unit.
>>
>> Actually going to court is a last resort that you are unlikely to end up
>> choosing. You'd probably only do it if you get some outside agency to
>> defend the case pro bono. If it's a really interesting or high profile or
>> legally significant case then you've got a chance of getting an ally like
>> that.
>>
>> Keep in mind that the open source hardware definition doesn't allow you
>> to technically call your thing open source if you include a noncommercial
>> clause in your license. That means that anybody likely in a position to sue
>> you also probably has the option to just clone your thing and sell it
>> themselves.
>>
>> So the potential futures are a lot more complicated than just getting
>> dragged into court. That's a good thing :) Hell, if somebody does start
>> giving you trouble you might even be able to get the OSHW community to
>> shame them into backing down.
>> On Mar 7, 2015 2:07 AM, "Alex J V" <alex at makeystreet.com> wrote:
>>
>>> Hi,
>>>
>>> Context - We are building an open source electric unicycle. Part of the
>>> project we are building open source BLDC motor driver that is capable of
>>> handling 500W continuous power.
>>>
>>> The question here is there are tons of patents on BLDC motor driver. We
>>> are not copying anyones work per say, but given the fact that motor drivers
>>> have been around for a long time, as coincidence there is a lot of chance
>>> that our design could potentially be very similar to one of these patents
>>> and infringe them. At that point, will be get sued? If so, what do we do in
>>> order to make sure that does not happen?
>>>
>>> As a small team it is possible that we will not be sued, but the
>>> intention is to manufacture at some point of time in scale. At that point,
>>> how can open source hardware be not sued?
>>>
>>>
>>> The question boils down to "We would love to putting our designs as open
>>> source, but what should we do to not get sued?"
>>> --
>>> Alex J V
>>> @alexjv89
>>> www.makeystreet.com/maker/alex
>>> Find modular open source hardware for your project @ makeystreet.com
>>> in.linkedin.com/in/alexjv/
>>> +91- 886 105 3989(India)
>>>
>>> _______________________________________________
>>> discuss mailing list
>>> discuss at lists.oshwa.org
>>> http://lists.oshwa.org/listinfo/discuss
>>>
>>>
>> _______________________________________________
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>>
>
>
> --
> Alex J V
> @alexjv89
> www.makeystreet.com/maker/alex
> Find modular open source hardware for your project @ makeystreet.com
> in.linkedin.com/in/alexjv/
> +91- 886 105 3989(India)
>
> _______________________________________________
> discuss mailing list
> discuss at lists.oshwa.org
> http://lists.oshwa.org/listinfo/discuss
>
>
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