Licensing

I am getting ready to release a hardware/software design to the public. Schematics, board layouts, source code, binaries -- everything the user might need for making one. This is 100% non-commercial; I just want to let the world have a fairly cool little design I made.

I want to pick a copyright/licensing scheme that maximizes the benefit to the user. Exactly how to do that is an interesting question that involved conflicting desires.

I would like someone to be able to make a commercial product based on the design with zero restrictions; no credit given, no source code, etc. -- but in a way that minimizes the chance of him screwing over other users of the design through the legal system.

I would like to minimize the chance that a user would end up basing his design on a re-branded non-credited version that doesn't have the latest bugfixes and enhancements, but I am reluctant to require a link to the project site. Encouraging but not requiring the link may do the trick.

I would like to encourage the users to submit improvements but again I don't want to exclude those who want to keep their added work proprietary for business reasons.

Comments on licenses I have looked at:

GNU General Public License

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I don't like "This forbids activities such as distributing of the software under a non-disclosure agreement or contract." I want to allow that, but in such a way that the recipient has no restrictions on using the version I am releasing. It may not be possible to achieve both of these goals... And of course I don't want to require distribution of source code.

Free Art License

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I don't like "It will no longer be possible for someone to appropriate your work, short-circuiting the creative process to make personal profit from it." I want to allow that.

The BSD License

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I don't like "Redistributions of source code must retain the above copyright notice."

Creative Archive License

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Still to restrictive. No DRM, no use for "illegal, derogatory or otherwise offensive purpose".

Maybe the "No problem Bugroff" license is what I am looking for...

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Guy Macon

Reply to
Guy Macon
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License

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This is obsolete. Almost all BSD-license products have dropped the copyright notice requirement.

For an example of this type of license, see

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Reply to
larwe

License

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Bad example . "Redistributions of source code must retain the above copyright notice, this list of conditions and the following disclaimer." Similar for binary.

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Al Balmer
Sun City, AZ
Reply to
Al Balmer

Well, darn. Last time I was looking for a license on this product it was the normal modern "modified BSD", or at least it seemed to be.

Reply to
larwe

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