The full language of the new standard is as follows:
• Documentation
The hardware must be released with documentation including design files,
and must allow modification and distribution of the design files. Where
documentation is not furnished with the physical product, there must be
a well-publicized means of obtaining this documentation for no more
than a reasonable reproduction cost preferably, downloading via the
Internet without charge. The documentation must include design files in
the preferred form for which a hardware developer would modify the
design. Deliberately obfuscated design files are not allowed.
Intermediate forms analogous to compiled computer code -- such as
printer-ready copper artwork from a CAD program -- are not allowed as
substitutes.
• Necessary Software
If the hardware requires software, embedded or otherwise, to operate
properly and fulfill its essential functions, then the documentation
requirement must also include at least one of the following: The
necessary software, released under an OSI-approved open source license,
or other sufficient documentation such that it could reasonably be
considered straightforward to write open source software that allows the
device to operate properly and fulfill its essential functions.
• Derived Works
The license must allow modifications and derived
works, and must allow them to be distributed under the same terms as the
license of the original hardware. The license must allow for the
manufacture, sale, distribution, and use of products created from the
design files or derivatives of the design files.
• Free redistribution
The license shall not restrict any party from selling or giving away the
project documentation as a component of an aggregate distribution
containing designs from several different sources. The license shall not
require a royalty or other fee for such sale. The license shall not
require any royalty or fee related to the sale of derived works.
• Attribution
The license may require derived works to provide attribution to the
original designer when distributing design files, manufactured products,
and/or derivatives thereof. The license may also require derived works
to carry a different name or version number from the original design.
• No Discrimination Against Persons or Groups
The license must not discriminate against any person or group of
persons.
• No Discrimination Against Fields of Endeavor
The license must not restrict anyone from making use of the hardware in a
specific field of endeavor. For example, it may not restrict the
hardware from being used in a business, or from being used in nuclear
research.
• Distribution of License
The rights attached to the hardware must apply to all to whom the
product or documentation is redistributed without the need for execution
of an additional license by those parties.
• License Must Not Be Specific to a Product
The rights attached to the hardware must not depend on the hardware
being part of a particular larger product. If the hardware is extracted
from that product and used or distributed within the terms of the
hardware license, all parties to whom the hardware is redistributed
should have the same rights as those that are granted in conjunction
with the original distribution.
• License Must Not Restrict Other Hardware or Software
The license must not place restrictions on other hardware or software
that may be distributed or used with the licensed hardware. For example,
the license must not insist that all other hardware sold at the same
time be open source, nor that only open source software be used in
conjunction with the hardware.
• License Must Be Technology-Neutral
No provision of the license may be predicated on any individual
technology or style of interface.
via cnet
Recent Comments