Hi I thought I'd Talk about Open Source Hardware Again, or more importantly, the unwritten rules of Open Source Hardware Because there are actually a bunch of Unwritten rules that aren't really spelled out anywhere. but in general, everyone or the majority of the community like to follow. So a lot of people uh, either don't know these exist or think they can get away by, you know, not following them. So I thought I'd list them down and have a quick discussion about it now.

Oh, these these rules are not. uh, you know they're not Ironclad but they've been followed for a long time. Before Open- Source Hardware was around, or before it was called Open- Source Hardware or Open Hardware These same rules Come way back before I was even born back in the magazine. uh, electronic magazine project days.

so there's nothing new here at all. Open Source Hardware It's been around for a hell of a long time. Rule Number one: Don't clone innovate. Do Not just take somebody's design files and produce an exact duplicate copy or clone of it.

It is not the done thing to do. Yes, you're legally able to do it. That's the technically the beauty of Open Source Hardware Because there's no non-commercial license attached to it. You can take the author's original design files and produce a copy.

But should you? No, you shouldn't because you haven't contributed to anything. You haven't contributed to the community and to the art of that. Pro And the progress of that particular project. Make some changes.

Improve it. change the look and feel, the usability, the form factor, all sorts of things. If it had reliability problems, fix those. If it had that, you know, improve specs.

Whatever it is. Don't clone innovate, because if you just clone, you are not going to be popular. You're legally allowed to do it. But not many people are going to like you.

That's not how the community is going to advance it needs. Innovation And no, simply manufacturing and selling the thing at a lower price is not innovating. You're just undercutting the original author. That's not good karma.

It's not a good thing to do do and you're not going to be very popular in the industry. It's just not done. Don't do it. That's not innovating.

Make some real changes. Rule Number two: If you sell it, you have to support it. Don't leave it up to the original author to support the thing in terms of email requests for when things go wrong. or don't leave it up to the original authors.

Uh, support Forum or the community support Forum By all means use that support an an existing support Forum but use it with permission and contribute to it as well because if you're selling it, you really need to support it otherwise you're not going to build a good name for yourself. Rule Number three: If the original author doesn't want to sell a kit for their project, that's quite common. They just Rel design it, prototype, release the design info. beautiful and well, you might want to go.

Hey I that kit I Want to sell a kit or a finished product for it. The rule is you should give them a cut for it. just a small token. Cut doesn't have to be large.

Just give them a cut because they're the ones who design the thing. You would never be able to make a scent on that if they hadn't done all the leg work. Once again, you're not legally obliged to do it, but it's good karma and it will also mean that the original author might support you. Awesome! Hey, you know you're not selling it I'd like to sell it I'll give you a small little cut.

You endorse me as your official supplier. Everyone wins. Everyone's happy. Nice big.

Community Rule Number four: Respect the wishes of the original author. If they approach you and say, hey, can you please change this or remove this or you know, don't sell this or whatever, then please respect them. Once again, you may not be legally obliged to do that, but it's good. Community Spirit To do that once again, you would not be where you are if it wasn't for the original author's design.

Please respect them. Rule Number five: Don't use the original author's name or their project name without permission. Ask them first if that's okay. and don't go search the trademark database.

Oh look, they haven't trademark that name. Woohoo! I'm legally allowed to do it. No, it's not the way it's done in the industry. And don't take advantage of their name and their reputation unless you have permission.

It's bad karma. Don't do it and just be very careful how you attribute them as well, because you're legally obliged to attribute them in, uh, most licenses. so you're going to have to do that. but be very careful how you put their name on your board.

You probably even don't need to do that at all. It should be in the documentation somewhere you know they get a mentioned. Here's the original designer. Go check out their design.

So just be very careful how you use their name and how you attribute it because you don't want people to accidentally think that it's associated with the original author. So there you go. There's the five Unwritten Rules of Open-source Hardware They're pretty basic Common Sense stuff that pretty much follow the Golden Rule treat people how you would like to be treated in return. and this is over and above the legal obligations you've got based on the license uh, which is mostly uh, giving attribution to the original author and re-releasing your design files as well under the same license.

And there's quite a few people out there who ask, well, why can't the Open Source Hardware Community just embrace the non-commercial clause in, say, the Creative Common License. If everyone released it non-commercial then everyone would be legally obligated. you can't copy it, and to be Rock Solid legal and you could sue somebody's ass if they try and clone you or something like that. The reason why the Open Source Hardware Community don't endorse the non-commercial clause in a license is because it it would just stall the whole industry.

It would just die flat because then, uh, people would not be able to build upon existing designs and then legally release them. It'll actually be a whole legal mindfield and the whole thing is just fall apart. It wouldn't work, sounds great in principle, but in practice you have to just release it not using a non-commercial license and then it's better off everyone just following the unwritten rules. and the Golden Rule.

So there you have it, some basic Unwritten rules which you're not legally obliged to follow, But if you don't then you're not going to end up with a good name, a good reputation in the open source hard industry, and quite frankly, you're not going to go very far. Catch you next time.