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The open-source hardware statement of principles and definition were developed by members of the OSHWA board and working group along with others. These documents were originally edited on the wiki at freedomdefined.org, which you can visit to see endorsements of the definition and to add your own.
Open Source Hardware (OSHW) Statement of Principles 1.0
Open source hardware is hardware whose design is made publicly available so that anyone can study, modify, distribute, make, and sell the design or hardware based on that design. The hardware’s source, the design from which it is made, is available in the preferred format for making modifications to it. Ideally, open source hardware uses readily-available components and materials, standard processes, open infrastructure, unrestricted content, and open-source design tools to maximize the ability of individuals to make and use hardware. Open source hardware gives people the freedom to control their technology while sharing knowledge and encouraging commerce through the open exchange of designs.
Open Source Hardware (OSHW) Definition 1.0
The Open Source Hardware (OSHW) Definition 1.0 is based on the Open Source Definition for Open Source Software. That definition was created by Bruce Perens and the Debian developers as the Debian Free Software Guidelines.
Introduction
Open Source Hardware (OSHW) is a term for tangible artifacts — machines, devices, or other physical things — whose design has been released to the public in such a way that anyone can make, modify, distribute, and use those things. This definition is intended to help provide guidelines for the development and evaluation of licenses for Open Source Hardware.
Hardware is different from software in that physical resources must always be committed for the creation of physical goods. Accordingly, persons or companies producing items (“products”) under an OSHW license have an obligation to make it clear that such products are not manufactured, sold, warrantied, or otherwise sanctioned by the original designer and also not to make use of any trademarks owned by the original designer.
The distribution terms of Open Source Hardware must comply with the following criteria:
1. 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 format for making changes, for example the native file format of a CAD program. 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. The license may require that the design files are provided in fully-documented, open format(s).
2. Scope
The documentation for the hardware must clearly specify what portion of the design, if not all, is being released under the license.
3. Necessary Software
If the licensed design requires software, embedded or otherwise, to operate properly and fulfill its essential functions, then the license may require that one of the following conditions are met:
a) The interfaces are sufficiently documented 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. For example, this may include the use of detailed signal timing diagrams or pseudocode to clearly illustrate the interface in operation.
b) The necessary software is released under an OSI-approved open source license.
4. Derived Works
The license shall allow modifications and derived works, and shall allow them to be distributed under the same terms as the license of the original work. The license shall allow for the manufacture, sale, distribution, and use of products created from the design files, the design files themselves, and derivatives thereof.
5. Free redistribution
The license shall not restrict any party from selling or giving away the project documentation. 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.
6. Attribution
The license may require derived documents, and copyright notices associated with devices, to provide attribution to the licensors when distributing design files, manufactured products, and/or derivatives thereof. The license may require that this information be accessible to the end-user using the device normally, but shall not specify a specific format of display. The license may require derived works to carry a different name or version number from the original design.
7. No Discrimination Against Persons or Groups
The license must not discriminate against any person or group of persons.
8. No Discrimination Against Fields of Endeavor
The license must not restrict anyone from making use of the work (including manufactured hardware) in a specific field of endeavor. For example, it must not restrict the hardware from being used in a business, or from being used in nuclear research.
9. Distribution of License
The rights granted by the license must apply to all to whom the work is redistributed without the need for execution of an additional license by those parties.
10. License Must Not Be Specific to a Product
The rights granted by the license must not depend on the licensed work being part of a particular product. If a portion is extracted from a work and used or distributed within the terms of the license, all parties to whom that work is redistributed should have the same rights as those that are granted for the original work.
11. License Must Not Restrict Other Hardware or Software
The license must not place restrictions on other items that are aggregated with the licensed work but not derivative of it. For example, the license must not insist that all other hardware sold with the licensed item be open source, nor that only open source software be used external to the device.
12. License Must Be Technology-Neutral
No provision of the license may be predicated on any individual technology, specific part or component, material, or style of interface or use thereof.
Afterword
The signatories of this Open Source Hardware definition recognize that the open source movement represents only one way of sharing information. We encourage and support all forms of openness and collaboration, whether or not they fit this definition.
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.
Endorsements
If you would like to add your endorsement, email us at info@oshwa.org!
Initial list from freedomdefined.org
Aaron Clarke,aaronclarke.com, EmbeddedCoding.com
Aaron harper, Lobo Savvy Technologies, Ahead Research Corporation
Abhimanyu Singh Udawat, Explore Labs
Achim Haug, AirGradient
Adam Cooper, CETIS
Adam Mayer, Makerbot Industries
Adam N. Ward, Wardy’s Projects
Adam Wolf, Wayne and Layne
Addie Wagenknecht and Stefan Hechenberger, Nortd Labs, Eyebeam, Lasersaur
Adviye Ayça Ünlüer, Yildiz Technical University
Ahmet Alpat, Arduino Türkiye, Elektrik, Elektronik, Enerji
AJ Quick, A Quick CNC
Akiba, FreakLabs
Alan Pack, Photo Booth King
Albert Monés, replicat.es
Alberto Fabiano, Garoa Hacker Clube
Alexander Olikevich, OpenFabLab
Alexander Ruiz, Ingenio Sólido S.A.S
Alexis Sánchez, PingüinoVE
Alicia Gibb, OSHWA (when signed, Bug Labs)
Alok Prasad
Amanda Wozniak, Ninja Networks
Amon Millner, Scratch & MIT, Olin College, Modkit
Anand Tamboli, Knewron
André Menks, Multilógica-shop
Andreas Olofsson, Parallella
Andrés Delgado, Apertura Radical
Andrew Back, Open Source Hardware User Group
Andrew Katz, Moorcrofts LLP
Andrew Meyer
Andrew Newman, Research Institute for Arts and Technology
Andrew Plumb, ClothBot Designs
Andrew Sliwinski, OmniCorpDetroit
Andrew Stone, Toasted Circuits
Andrew Wenzlaff, Contain Rain
Andy Gelme, Connected Community HackerSpace, Melbourne, Australia and Geekscape Pty. Ltd
Andy Wickert, Northern Widget LLC
Anil Kumar Pugalia, Pugs’ Passion
Anool Mahidharia, WyoLum
Anthony Clay, ZarthCode LLC
Arno Eikhof, UVC Ingenieure
Arthur Wolf, Smoothie
Ashok Saraf
Asim Baig, Tinkeract
Ayah Bdeir, littleBits.cc, Eyebeam, Creative Commons
Balestrino Salvatore, OSHW.IT
Bastian Bittorf, bittorf wireless ))
Ben Leduc-Mills, Craft Technology Lab
Benjamin Gaulon, Recyclism
Benjamin Gray, phenoptix
Bergmann Markus, morethanfunctional
Bernard Pratz, hackable:Devices
Bernt Weber, Splashelec
Bertrand Le Roy, Nwazet
Bhagyashri Sharangpani, Bhasha Technologies
Bill Shaw, Inanimate Reason
Bo Morgan
Bob Jacobsen, JMRI
Bob Waldron, MakerPlane
Boseji, Electronics For Bharat, A.D.H.A.R Labs
Brandon Stafford, Rascal Micro
Brett Hagman, Rogue Robotics, Wiring
Brian Collins, Hacromatic
Brian Rayburn
Brian Harling, Modtronics Australia
Briana Mansion, Tenderoo
Briana Mansion, SKDB, Humanity+
Bunnie, bunniestudios
Cade Klock
Caleb Cover
Camilo Parra, Otto DIY
Carmen Gonzalez, Open Solar Circuits, DreamAddictive
Carmen Trudell, Fluxxlab
Carol Willing
Carson Reynolds, University of Tokyo
Case Engelen, Titoma Design Ltd.
Cara, PCBONLINE
Catarina Mota, openMaterials
Cathal Garvey, Indie Biotech
Cécile Montagne, open-devices
Cesar Harada, Protei, sailing drones
Charles Collis, AdCiv.org
Charles Pax, Pax Instruments
Charles Edward Pax, Makerbot Industries
Charles Yarnold
Chris Anderson, 3D Robotics/DIY Drones
Chris Jefferies, Tinaja Labs
Chris Harris, Agency1
Chris Mark, Fellers Tree Services
Chris Novello, illucia instruments
Chris Osterwood, Capable Robot
Chris Walker, Netduino, Secret Labs
Christian Siefkes, keimform.de
Christopher Lee, Australian Robotics
Constantin Craciun, Harkopen.com – open source hardware community
Dali Ben Aleya, EC-O: Provide recovered materials based DIY solutions
Dan Clark, GroundZero Labs
Daniel Andarde, Daniel Andrade – art.electronics.tech
Daniel Garcia, Protostack
Daniel Harrigan
Daniel Reetz, DIY Book Scanner
Daniel Yucra, SomosLibres.org Perú
Darsh Shah, Blog
Dave Borghuis, TkkrLab hackerspace
Dave Hrynkiw, Solarbotics Ltd., HVW Technologies
David, Elecrow
David A. Mellis, Arduino
David Ankers & James Cotton, The OpenPilot Foundation
David Carrier, Parallax Inc.
David Cuartielles, Arduino, OSHW_Spanish
David Gascón, Libelium, Cooking-Hacks
David L. Jones, EEVblog
David Lang, OpenROV
David Reyes Samblás Martínez, Tuxbrain
David Siren Eisner, InMojo
Deepak Pareek, HnyB Inc.
Deepak Shrivastava
Demetris Rouslan Zavorotnitsienko, GizmoForYou
Diego Spinola, Hackeneering
Dilshan R Jayakody, Dilshan R Jayakody’s Web Log
Dimitri Albino, smARtMAKER
D’sun Labs, http://dsunlabs.com/
Dumitru Stama, dicsEE
Dustyn Roberts, dustynrobots
Dominic Muren, The Humblefactory
Ed Minchau, Magical Robotics
Emanuele Bonanni aka EmanueleEMC, Elettronica Open Source
Emil Varughese, Edwin Robotics
Emre Gökçe Çimen, Eg-ar Design
Eric Anderson, Carnegie Mellon University
Eric Boyd, sensebridge
Eric Carlson, Kaleidoscope Systems
Eric Herman, FreeSA
Eric Michaud, i11 Industries
Eric Pan, Seeed Studio
Eric Thompson, Low Voltage Labs
Ethan Zonca, ProtoFusion
Fabien Royer, Nwazet
Faisal Omar Aljabri, faisalomar
Federico Lucifredi, SUSE Linux
Francisco Cordova, e-Terminal Foundation
Francisco Malpartida, electroFUN
Frank Piller, rwth-aachen university
Freddy Deniau
Frédéric Jourdan, Snootlab
Gareth Coleman, layer zero labs
Geoffrey L. Barrows, Centeye, Inc., Embedded Eye
George Hadley, NBitWonder
Gilles Reyna
Giovanni Lostumbo, GNUBioPhotoVoltaic
Glyn Hudson, Trystan Lea and Suneil Tagore, OpenEnergyMonitor
Graham Bicknell
Greg Grossmeier, Open Evangelist
Greg Krsak
Gregor Gross, alpha-board Elektronik-Design und Fertigungsservice Berlin
Gregory Gage, Backyard Brains
Guo haoyun, bjmakerspace.com
Gustav Karlsson, Karlsson Robotics
Hal Gottfried, KC Open Hardware Society
Hannah Perner-Wilson, Plusea, How To Get What You Want
Hans Scharler, ioBridge, ThingSpeak
Hao Zhang, BJMakerspace
Hélio Pereira
Helio Ribeiro da Silva Filho
Henrik Denhart, Denhart
Hong Phuc Dang, FOSSASIA
Ian Daniher, Nonolith Labs
Ian Lee, Software & Sawdust
Ivan Jorge Boesing, FIRST Brazil
J. Simmons, Mach 30: Foundation for Space Development
Jaco du Plessis, hbnet Private Internet Services
James Adams, MakeNub
James Grahame, Reflex Audio, MeeBlip
James Ronald, Michigan Robot Club
Jarryd Bekker, Lattra
Jasmin Skenderi, alpha-board Elektronik-Design und Fertigungsservice Berlin
Jason Huggins, Bitbeam
Jason Prince, Umorpha Systems
Jason Veneman, Intelligenate
Jatinderjit Singh, Embisys
Jayson Tautic, TAUTIC ELECTRONICS LLC
Jean Demartini, DEMTECH – Sophia-Antipolis – France
Jean-Marc Giacalone, eMAKERshop
Jeff Karney, JK Devices
Jeff Keyzer, MightyOhm Engineering
Jeff Moe, Aleph Objects, Inc.
Jeff Saltzman, Jeff’s Arduino Blog
Jeffrey Antony, Jeffrey’s Personal Website
Jennifer He, Shenzhen Makerfabs Corp
Jeremy Blum, JeremyBlum.com, Cornell University Creative Machines Lab
Jeremy Saglimbeni, thecustomgeek.com
Jim Barkley, The MITRE Corporation
Jimmie P. Rodgers, JimmiePRodgers.com
Jinbuhm Kim, ATEAM VENTURES
Joan Espinoza, PingüinoVE
Joel Murphy, Rachel’s Electronics, Parsons D+T
John Wilbanks, Creative Commons
John Lejeune, h:D
John M. De Cristofaro
John Tarbox, BitsConnect.com
Johnny Russell, UltiMachine
Jon Kuniholm, The Open Prosthetics Project
Jon Masters, www.jonmasters.org
Jonathan Dahan, Island Labs
Jonathan Minchin, cross-innovation
Jonathan Oxer, Freetronics
Jorel Lalicki, LIB3 Inc.- Open Source Hardware for Experimenters
Jorge Alberto Silva, CDIR ITESCO
Jose M. de la Fuente, n00b0t, mm8
Josef Pruša, josefprusa.cz, RepRap developer
Joseph Di Carlo
Joseph Gray, 911 Media Arts Center, Seattle, projBox
Joseph H Althaus
Joseph Flynt, 3D Insider
Josh Boughey, The Stribe Project
Joshua D. Johnson,Protobot Industries, physical prototyper/inventor
Juan Gonzalez-Gomez, Iearobotics.com, Researcher on robotics
Juergen Neumann, OHANDA – Open Source Hardware and Design Alliance
Julien Rouviere, OpenSCB
Julio Carrillo, University of Los Andes-Venezuela, Revolution of Making
Keith Braafladt
Ken Burns, AkroSense
Kenneth Liu, Arduino in Taiwan
Kevin Townsend, www.microBuilder.eu
Koichi Takagi, Nagoya City University
Kshitiz Khanal, Open Knowledge Nepal
Kurt Andro, www.ideenzumnulltarif.de
Kyle Wiens, iFixit
Lawrence “Lemming” Dixon, HSBNE.org, Hackerspace Brisbane
Leah Buechley, MIT Media Lab, High-Low Tech
Lenore Edman, Evil Mad Science
Leslie Garcia, DreamAddictive, Astrovandalistas
Lex Blagus, OpDehy
Limor Fried, Adafruit Industries
Louis Montagne, Bearstech
Lubos Medovarsky, Accelera Networks
Luigi Carnevale, Droids
Luis Felipe R. Murillo, Journal of Open Hardware
Maik Kroka, Dischereit SMT Assembly
Marcin Jakubowski, Open Source Ecology
Marcus A. Link, Manupool – A Product Development Community
Mario Behling,MBM
Mario Raul Perez,MacroPLC
Mario Vernari, Highfieldtales
Mark Carew, OpenBuilds
Mark Khusid, EE, MK Dynamics
Mark McComb, hacktronics
Marty Schrader, Parsec Technologies, Inc.
Massimo Banzi, Arduino
Mathilde Berchon, MakingSociety
Mats Engstrom, SmallRoomLabs
Mats Undén
Matt Westervelt, Metrix Create:Space
Matthew Beckler, Wayne and Layne
Matthew Slater, Community Forge
Matthieu Quadrini, OpenSCB
Martin Häuer, Open Source Ecology Germany e.V.
Michael Eber, Makertronic
Michael James, OSHJunkies
Michael Krumpus, nootropic design
Michael McPherson
Michael Ossmann, Great Scott Gadgets
Michael Ruppe
Miguel Xochicale, air4children
Mike Provenzano, Progunn Industries
Mitch Altman, Cornfield Electronics
Mitch Patterson(mitpatterson), Mitch’s Tech Blog
Mohamed, aSensar, RepRap-India
Mohammed Ibrahim Mirza Beig, wired2tech.org
Morgaine Dinova, Morgaine Dinova on freedomdefined.org, lecturer and consultant
Moritz von Buttlar, Opensource-Solar
Morten I. Larsen
Naoufel Razouane, Tunisia-DIY
Nathan Seidle, SparkFun Electronics
Nicholas C Lewis, A RepRap Breeding Program
Nicolas Lassabe, Artilect FabLab Toulouse
Nicolas Saugnier, XD Team blog
Nicolas Stalder, Solokeys
Nis Sarup
Noah Shibley, Nomi Design
Noel Bautista, Maker Dude
Nuri Erginer, gnexlab
Oldrich Horacek, HW Kitchen
Ondrej Zizka
Paolo Patierno, DevExperience
Partha Pratim Ray, Sikkim University
Patrick Korkuch
Patrick Lloyd
Patrick Wilkie, COSMIC Medical
Paul Armstrong
Paul Badger, Modern Device
Pavol Rusnak, hackerspace brmlab
Pete Brown, 10rem.net
Pete Prodoehl, RasterWeb!
Peter Kirn, Create Digital Music, MeeBlip
Phillip Torrone, MAKE magazine, Adafruit Industries
Pierce Nichols, Logos Electromechanical LLC
Pierre Padilla H., Biomakers Lab
Pierrick Boissard, I-Grebot robotics association
Pip Jones, Deepend
Prashant Khandelwal, midnightprogrammer.net
R. Scott Plunkett, The OpenQi Project
Raf Wawer, Ancient Crafts and Arts Society
Rafael Barmak, OVNI Lab
Raghavan Nagabhirava
Ramón Martínez, Tenderoo Mobile Payment
Raphaël Rousseau, Atelier Laser
Raúl Oviedo, Ingenieria Electronica
Ravichandra Seveelavanan, LZRDM
Rebika Rai, Sikkim University
Red Byer, Red’s Toyland
Ricardo Mayorga, telsisconelectronica.com
Richard Anderson, Fair Use Building and Research Labs
Richard Arnett, ChromatograDIY
Robert Fitzsimons, Part Fusion Electronics
Robit Technology, Parts of Electronics and Robotics
Rod Read, Windswept and Interesting Limited
Rodolfo Cossovich, Multiplo
Ron K. Jeffries, Jeffries Research
Ronen Kadushin, Open Design
Roy Mohan Shearer, Openthing
Ryan Pulkrabek, Opennautics
Sachin, DigiBay
Samuel Sayer, The MITRE Corporation
Samuel Vale, Holoscópio Tecnologia
Sascha Meinrath, Open Technology Initiative
SASIKUMAR K, [sasi1212@live.in]
Scot Kornak, BusBoard Prototype Systems Ltd.
Sefa Soysal, Robolink Technology
Shannon Morrisey
Shigeru Kobayashi, IAMAS, Funnel, Gainer
Simone Marzulli, Onioncoding
Stacy L. Devino, Does it Pew?, aka childofthehorn
Sterling Pickens, linuxsociety
Steve Dickie, ArduinoEducation.com
Steve Gifford, Chips To Bits
Steve Hoefer, Grathio Labs
Stewart Dickson, Makerspace-Urbana
Suniel Kumar G, POSHLabs-People’s Open Source Hardware Labs
Tassos Natsakis, KU Leuven
Taylor Alexander, Flutter Wireless
Terry King, YourDuino.com
Thalis Antunes, FACIT
Theodore Ullrich, Tomorrow Lab™
Thomas Gokey, artist
Thomas McGahee
Tim Lossen, Evercube
Tomasz Mloduchowski, XLogic, Blattaria, Ltd.
Toni Klopfenstein, ToniCorinne.com
Troy Dowling, TroyDowling.org
Tsvetan Usunov, Olimex.com
Tully Gehan, Samurai Circuits
Tuomo Tammenpää, OHANDA – Open Source Hardware and Design Alliance
Tushar Makwana, Explore Labs
Twinklekumar Patel
Usman Haque, Pachube
Victor Aprea, Wicked Device
Victor Christiansenn, SecPoint
Victor Perin, Nerd Hi-Tech
Viento, Floating City Copenhagen
Vlad Trifa, Web of Things, ETH Zurich
Will Cleaver, OS Economy – Science & Art
Will Pickering, FunGizmos
William Morris, I Heart Robotics, I Heart Engineering
William Zain, MoBooth
Wim Vandeputte, kd85
Windell Oskay, Evil Mad Science
Yannick Avelino, Electrolab
Yoonseo Kang, Open Tech Forever
Xavier Leonard, X.L
Zach Fredin, Neurotinker
Zhang Dong, HOMEMODE