Faculté Polytechnique

OSS 2012From Open Source Software to Open

Source Hardware

Dr Ir Robert Viseur

The Eighth International Conference on Open Source Systems (OSS 2012).Hammamet (Tunisia), September 10-13, 2012.

Université de Mons Dr Ir R. Viseur | FPMs : Service d'Économie et de Management de l'Innovation 2

Summary

Context

Definitions

Intellectual Property and Business Models

Methodology

Results

Discussion

Future Works

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Context

First was open source software (OSS)...

Next steps : open access, open data and... open source hardware / open hardware (OSH).

Some well-known projects such as LEON free processor.

With time : growing interest of companies, popular products such as Arduino.

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Definitions

Recent definition by Open Hardware Summit (summit.oshwa.org) :

Open Source Hardware Definition. Based on 12 criteria. Clearly drawned on famous Open Source Definition (OSI,

opensource.org).

Two kinds of projects : Open source IP

Electronic components : cores, controllers, processors,... Open source designs.

More complex designs : specialized boards, prototyping boards, machines,...

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Intellectual Property and Business Models (1/2)

Some items to protect : Source code for electronics, source code for associated

softwares, hardware design, aesthetic value, documentations and brands.

Various IP tools : Protection for the topographies of semiconductors,

industrial design rights, patents, copyrights and trademarks.

Expected similarities between OSH and OSS.

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Open source softwares covered by licenses. Based on copyright (sometimes : clauses about patents and

trademarks). Copyleft (LGPL, GPL, MPL,...) or not (BSD, MIT,...).

Specific open hardware licenses such as TAPR or CERN Open Hardware License.

Business models strongly influenced by licenses.

In open source software, revenue creation by : Selling services (new developments, training, hosting,...). Selling softwares (dual licensing scheme or sale of add‑ons)

Intellectual Property and Business Models (2/2)

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Methodology

Objectives : Identify emergent practices (mainly about relations between

companies, and between companies and communities). Determine business models and licenses used by

companies.

Methodology : 11 case studies by analyzing organisations with commercial

OSH activities. Sources :

Projects websites and articles about project's owners (interviews, presentations).

Public documents about projects.

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Results (1/2)

Business models :

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Results (2/2)

Licenses : Open source licenses used for source code : BSD, GPL

and LGPL. Hardware design also covered by Creative Commons

(mainly CC-BY-SA). One project covered by license for OSH (TAPR license).

Implementation : License not always clearly noticed. Source code distributed with public tools (Github,

Google Code or Sourceforge).

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Discussion (1/2)

Protection provided by Creative Commons ? Written for cultural contents, not for hardware. No clause about patents (as GPL v3).

Use of GPL (restrictive license) : Less problematic for OSH ?

The companies sell tangible, manufactured products. Need to control process from source code to out-of-the box

products. Kind of barrier to entry.

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Discussion (2/2)

Forks are possible with hardware, too. Cases :

OpenSPARC : simpification of the product (« friendly » fork).

Arduino : trademarks issues and search for lower prices. Similar to forks in Open Source software field. Possible with more complex machines ?

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Future works

Increase the number of studied companies.

Establish links with other theoretical frameworks (fablabs, peer-production,...).

Study in greater detail the interactions between users communities and companies.

How do the companies overcome the barriers to contribute ?

Proposed methods : questionnaires sent to projects leaders or tracking of activities in collaborative tools.

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Q&A

Thank you for your attention.

Any question ?

This slideshow is published under CC-BY-ND license.

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Acknowledgments

This research was initiated by the Faculty of Engineering of UMons (www.umons.ac.be) and

benefited of support from DG06 (spw.wallonie.be) with the CELLaVI project

conducted by CETIC (www.cetic.be).

Université de Mons Dr Ir R. Viseur | FPMs : Service d'Économie et de Management de l'Innovation 15

Contact

Dr Ir Robert Viseur

Teaching Assistant @UMONS UMONS, Faculté Polytechnique Rue de Houdain, 9 B-7000 Mons Mail : robert.viseur@umons.ac.be WWW : www.umons.ac.be

Senior Technology Advisor @CETIC CETIC Rue des Frères Wright, 29/3 B-6041 Charleroi Mail : robert.viseur@cetic.be WWW : www.cetic.be

More information : www.robertviseur.be