<div dir="ltr">Alicia, et al,<div><br></div><div>Hopefully Alicia (and others who are going to be in the meeting) will see these questions before the meeting. I will try to focus them on licensing related questions since the guest experts are patent lawyers. </div>
<div><br></div><div>* At the first Open Hardware Summit John Wilbanks proposed the idea that since OSHW is made up of materials which are licensed differently, that OSHW licenses will probably be compound in nature. His idea as I understood it was to license the various parts of the supporting materials (documentation, source code, etc) with the appropriate established licenses. At Mach 30, we have taken the general concept and created a "meta-license" which describes the overall intent and specifies the licenses which will be used for various elements of the project. Can the lawyers comment on this idea and on the specific implementation (sources are included in the link - <a href="http://mach30.org/about/mach-30-open-design-pledge/">http://mach30.org/about/mach-30-open-design-pledge/</a>)?</div>
<div><br></div><div>* Speaking of alternate licenses, can the lawyers comment on the SolderPad License and Attribution Only style license for OSHW?</div><div><br></div><div>* How likely is it that a contributor could, after having made a patentable suggestion to a project, file for a patent on that invention within the (as I understand it) one year time limit from first public disclosure and be in a position to turn around and hold the patent over the project's head? I ask not because I expect bad actors, but because patents are so different from what the open source world is used to (aka copyrights) and I think it is valuable to be aware of risks, especially where financial gain can come into play. I am hoping the answer is it would be very difficult and this is not likely at all.</div>
<div><br></div><div>* Speaking of risk, can the lawyers comment on the effectiveness of the indemnification clauses used in open source software (such as clauses 7 & 8 in the Apache Software License - <a href="http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0.html">http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0.html</a>) when the same language is applied to OSHW projects?</div>
<div><br></div><div>OK, that was really more of a liability question, but insurance and product liability has been a conversation topic lately at Mach 30. Here's another one just while we are on the subject.</div><div>
<br></div><div>* Can the lawyers comment on the legal exposure contributors have in OSHW projects? For example, say a flaw is found in an OSHW project, one that is causing property damage to users who buy kits or finished versions of the OSHW project. The project performs the necessary due diligence to find the cause of the problem (as part of their work to fix it) and find out the problem was caused by a contribution from a volunteer. Would end users who found out about this have grounds for a suit against the volunteer? Or is the project (corporation, non-profit, project leader in non-incorporated projects) the sole legal responsible party?</div>
<div><br></div><div>Back to a licensing related question. It is probably very straight forward.</div><div><br></div><div>* Is there a clause which projects should include in a terms of service, or similar document, to ensure a transfer of IP rights/ownership of all contributed ideas to the project? I realize software projects have example language, but I am curious what role patents and other hardware specific concerns have in shaping a clause like this.</div>
<div><br></div><div>If I think of any more in the morning I will post them. Thanks again to the great folks at OSHWA for arranging this meeting.</div><div><br></div><div> -J</div></div><div class="gmail_extra"><br><br><div class="gmail_quote">
On Fri, Nov 8, 2013 at 10:20 AM, Mario Gómez <span dir="ltr"><<a href="mailto:mxgxw.alpha@gmail.com" target="_blank">mxgxw.alpha@gmail.com</a>></span> wrote:<br><blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="margin:0 0 0 .8ex;border-left:1px #ccc solid;padding-left:1ex">
<div dir="ltr"><div>In some countries is not possible to have copyrights over design files for devices (I think is the same in the US), they can only be protected using patents.<br><br>But I see many people using software licenses in OSHW projects, if I had to make a question to a lawyer about the legal issues surrounding this, it would be: What is really protected in a OSHW project with an open-source sofware license? Only the source code? The documentation?<br>
<br></div>Regards,<br>Mario.<br><div><br><br></div></div><div class="gmail_extra"><br><br><div class="gmail_quote"><div><div class="h5">On Fri, Nov 8, 2013 at 8:46 AM, Matt Maier <span dir="ltr"><<a href="mailto:blueback09@gmail.com" target="_blank">blueback09@gmail.com</a>></span> wrote:<br>
</div></div><blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="margin:0 0 0 .8ex;border-left:1px #ccc solid;padding-left:1ex"><div><div class="h5"><div><a href="http://www.infoworld.com/d/open-source-software/4-ways-open-source-protects-you-against-software-patents-230433" target="_blank">http://www.infoworld.com/d/open-source-software/4-ways-open-source-protects-you-against-software-patents-230433</a></div>
<div> </div>
<div>Q: Open software has a longer history of dealing with patent issues. How much can open hardware adopt directly from open software? How much needs to be tweaked? How much just doesn't apply?</div>
<div> </div>
<div>Q: Is there a defensive patent pool, like OIN, for hardware? If not, can open hardware just join OIN? If not, can open hardware benefit from setting up something similar?</div>
<div> </div>
<div>Q: Newer open software licenses, like GNU GPLv3, include reciprocal patent agreements. Do any open hardware licenses include similar clauses? If not, can they?</div>
<div> </div>
<div>Q: Linux Defenders injects the work happening in open software directly into places the USPTO already does prior art searches. Can open hardware join them? If not, can open hardware set up something similar?<br><br>
</div>
<div class="gmail_quote"><div>On Thu, Nov 7, 2013 at 10:34 AM, J. Simmons <span dir="ltr"><<a href="mailto:jrs@mach30.org" target="_blank">jrs@mach30.org</a>></span> wrote:<br>
</div><blockquote style="BORDER-LEFT:#ccc 1px solid;MARGIN:0px 0px 0px 0.8ex;PADDING-LEFT:1ex" class="gmail_quote">
<div dir="ltr">Alicia,
<div><br></div><div>
<div>Thanks for checking. I will be write down the questions we have been thinking about (with a focus on IP issues) and get them to you before Mon. </div><span><font color="#888888">
<div><br></div>
<div> -J</div></font></span></div></div><div>
<div>
<div>
<div class="gmail_extra"><br><br>
<div class="gmail_quote">On Thu, Nov 7, 2013 at 11:43 AM, alicia <span dir="ltr"><<a href="mailto:amgibb@gmail.com" target="_blank">amgibb@gmail.com</a>></span> wrote:<br>
<blockquote style="BORDER-LEFT:#ccc 1px solid;MARGIN:0px 0px 0px 0.8ex;PADDING-LEFT:1ex" class="gmail_quote">
<div dir="ltr">Unfortunately, it doesn't sound like the room has any infrastructure for this type of thing. But if you want to forward me questions, or have a separate call with me to talk about the items you're up against we can do that. Regarding the export stuff being talked about though, I doubt these lawyers would have advice on that, given that they both specialize in patent law. So I'll be taking any patent relevant questions with me that have come up in this thread, and any others that might be added. <span><font color="#888888">
<div><br></div>
<div>Alicia </div></font></span></div></blockquote></div></div></div></div></div></blockquote></div>
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<br></blockquote></div><br><br clear="all"><div><br></div>-- <br>J. Simmons, President <div>Mach 30: Foundation for Space Development<div><div><a href="http://mach30.org" target="_blank">http://mach30.org</a><br></div><div>
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