The open source software principles progressively give rise to new initiatives for culture (free culture), data (open data) or hardware (open hardware). The open hardware is experiencing a significant growth but the business models and legal aspects are not well known. This paper is dedicated to the economics of open hardware. We define the open hardware concept and determine intellectual property tools we can apply to open hardware, with a strong focus on open source licenses and practices. We next conduct some case studies in order to determine which licenses and business models are used by open hardware companies. We show some strong similarities with open source software and propose new opportunities for future works. See paper for more details.

1. Faculté Polytechnique
OSS 2012
From 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.

2. Summary
Context
Definitions
Intellectual Property and Business Models
Methodology
Results
Discussion
Future Works
Université de Mons Dr Ir R. Viseur | FPMs : Service d'Économie et de Management de l'Innovation 2

3. 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.
Université de Mons Dr Ir R. Viseur | FPMs : Service d'Économie et de Management de l'Innovation 3

4. 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,...
Université de Mons Dr Ir R. Viseur | FPMs : Service d'Économie et de Management de l'Innovation 4

5. 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.
Université de Mons Dr Ir R. Viseur | FPMs : Service d'Économie et de Management de l'Innovation 5

6. Intellectual Property and
Business Models (2/2)
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)
Université de Mons Dr Ir R. Viseur | FPMs : Service d'Économie et de Management de l'Innovation 6

7. 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.
Université de Mons Dr Ir R. Viseur | FPMs : Service d'Économie et de Management de l'Innovation 7

8. Results (1/2)
Business models :
Université de Mons Dr Ir R. Viseur | FPMs : Service d'Économie et de Management de l'Innovation 8

9. 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).
Université de Mons Dr Ir R. Viseur | FPMs : Service d'Économie et de Management de l'Innovation 9

10. 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.
Université de Mons Dr Ir R. Viseur | FPMs : Service d'Économie et de Management de l'Innovation 10

11. 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 ?
Université de Mons Dr Ir R. Viseur | FPMs : Service d'Économie et de Management de l'Innovation 11

12. 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.
Université de Mons Dr Ir R. Viseur | FPMs : Service d'Économie et de Management de l'Innovation 12

13. Q&A
Thank you for your attention.
Any question ?
This slideshow is published under CC-BY-ND license.
Université de Mons Dr Ir R. Viseur | FPMs : Service d'Économie et de Management de l'Innovation 13

14. 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 14

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