CERN OHL v.1.2 released

[HLA-27b]

CERN just released the latest version 1.2 of their Open Source Hardware License.
Available here for review:
http://www.ohwr.org/documents/144

Since few people are subscribed to the mail list here is a copy of the original message.

Hi,

 

Thanks to all the feedback we have received on the CERN OHL v.1.1, we have made a few revisions and are now submitting the CERN OHL v.1.2 for comments and feedback (see text of the licence at http://www.ohwr.org/documents/144
 
). The main changes were introduced in article 3 of the licence.

One point in particular is still under discussion and concerns article 3.3(e) – attempting to send modifications to the Licensors whose design was modified and those who requested it. On the one hand questions of practicalities arise – does every minor modification/debugging need to be sent to everyone? – while on the other it may be perceived as a fair return, for contributors, to be notified of modifications that were made. Your input and suggestions on this point are most welcome!

 

Another point which we would like also to consider is the question of compatibility with other licences.

David Mellis (of the Arduino team)had made the following suggestion:

"what about the possibility of aligning this license with the TAPR one, so that they could, for example, serve as localized versions of the same license? The licenses seem very similar in intent and approach (at least to a legally-naive reader) - it would be great if we didn't have to worry about choosing between them. At a minimum, maybe there's a way to allow for compatibility between them (i.e. the ability to combine TAPR OHL-licensed documentation with CERN OHL-licensed documentation)?

 

We hope to make the CERN OHL v.1.2 practical to use for anyone, so let us know if you think there are other points that could be improved as well.

 

Best regards,

Myriam

On a side note I wonder if Dave has decided what license to release under.

[yrrapt]

Is this CERN as in the Large Hadron Collider?

When I first saw this post I thought there was the possibility that they would be releasing their hardware under an Open License.  Not that I think I would ever be able to build my own particle accelerator (never say never), but being able to see how these are designed would be beyond cool.

Anyway, I can keep dreaming...

Tom

[HLA-27b]

Yep

Is this CERN as in the Large Hadron Collider?

Yup, same CERN. As you guessed they have good reasons to want their hardware open source, hence the license.

Here is some hardware released under CERN OHL http://www.ohwr.org/projects

[Bored@Work]

Is this CERN as in the Large Hadron Collider?

When I first saw this post I thought there was the possibility that they would be releasing their hardware under an Open License.  Not that I think I would ever be able to build my own particle accelerator (never say never), but being able to see how these are designed would be beyond cool.

Anyway, I can keep dreaming...

Tom

The design of the LHC and the experiments were published

 http://lhc.web.cern.ch/lhc/LHC-DesignReport.html
 http://iopscience.iop.org/1748-0221/3/08

Although you need to have a fucking clue to make sense of it all.

[ndictu]

The design of the LHC and the experiments were published

This is the way science works. If they didn't publish extensive documentation for their experiments they would serve no purpose. This way anyone can make sure they are not doing something stupid, and even replicate the results (if they replicate the LHC first, of course).

Although you need to have a fucking clue to make sense of it all.

Well, what do you expect from one of the (if not the) biggest collaborative science and engineering project in the world, working on cutting edge research?

[EEVblog]

On a side note I wonder if Dave has decided what license to release under.

I'm using Creative Commons.
I just couldn't be bothered looking into all the legalese with all these licenses, as it doesn't really interest me much.
I come from the school of open products that didn't have licenses, you simply "played nice", and that system worked just fine.

Dave.

[firewalker]

Just GPL everything people!

Alexander.

[Warhawk]

I know that this is an extremely old thread but why to start a new one..

I am just about to release a small design on the web and would like to use one of the OSHW licenses. Honestly, I found dealing with licenses rather frustrating. So many variants and cryptic language to read. So far, I like the CERN OSH license because the documentation is simple and short.

My considerations:
- small but proven and handy device for R/C models hobbyists
- don't care about profit
- would like to eventually get credit if somebody starts selling it (this is not a part of the CERN license, right?)
- I provide no warranty or liability (this is standard, also for the public domain, right?)
- if somebody modifies the board and starts selling it, I want his/her version being open (this is the principle of the open source, right?)

Additional questions:
- do I need to upload the data somewhere? For example to www.ohwr.org ? I assume that my webpage is good enough.

...But maybe, I'll just found the process so annoying that I'll make it public domain.