[OH Updates] NEW TOPIC! How to 'share' hardware

[ayah bdeir]

Hello all,
I'm going to go out on a limb and say that perhaps this conversation  
has gone to places that are less productive than the list subscribers  
had in mind. Anyone care to venture into a new topic. For example:  
what do people use to share source files for hardware? If several  
people  need to access board files and schematics and edit them, is  
there a recommended verion system or backup/sharing system that I  
should be looking at?
thanks!
ayah


On 20 Sep 2011, at 19:52, David Carrier wrote:

> As an open source product developer, we don't care about having  
> patents on our own designs.  We just don't want to get sued by  
> someone else.  Considering the straightforwardness of our designs,  
> any patent lawsuits are likely to be from generic patents that are  
> popular among patent trolls.  If there was some sort of open patent  
> registry that we could place all our patents under, and allow anyone  
> and everyone to use these patents, as long as the never sue us for  
> infringing any of their patents, then we would be motivated to  
> patent innovations we make.
>
> I am concerned that current open source licenses allow a company to  
> release a product's design files under an open source license, but  
> retain the rights to the design itself.  It is my opinion that it is  
> unethical to do so, although it is legal.  Oracle is doing exactly  
> this with Java: http://www.reuters.com/article/2011/06/16/us-oracle-google-lawsuit-idUSTRE75F6DI20110616
>
> — David Carrier
> Parallax Inc.
>
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Bruce Perens [mailto:bruce at perens.com]
> Sent: Tue 9/20/2011 4:41 PM
> To: updates at lists.openhardwaresummit.org
> Subject: Re: [OH Updates] Schematics and copyright
>
> On 09/20/2011 04:09 PM, Dave Jones wrote:
>> Only if you can afford to defend a patent.
> I am not advocating that Open Source folks get patents, of course.
>
> I also believe there are many severe problems with the system, one of
> which is, as you say, that it is biased toward the deep-pockets  
> plaintiff.
>
>     Bruce
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