Toward open source hardware

Abstract

Open Source Software, that is, software distributed and licensed in a way that allows users to modify and further distribute its source code,1 has become an accepted part of the computer world. Most people involved in computer law today are familiar with the community-oriented philosophy behind Open Source Software licenses such as the Free Software Foundation’s General Public License.2 The purpose of such licenses is to ensure that software users retain the freedoms described in the Free Software definition,3 in particular, they seek to ensure that Free Software cannot be “taken proprietary” by its incorporation into programs whose source code is not made available. At its most fundamental, the goal of licenses like the GPL is to foster a community where those who benefit from the work of others in turn contribute their improvements to that community. A similar movement, inspired by many of the same concerns that drove those software developers, has taken shape among people involved in electronic hardware design efforts on a collaborative basis: the idea of Open Source Hardware.