Under what license is the OpenBCI project?

Comments

• wjcroft Mount Shasta, CA

  January 2016 edited January 2016

  This is not an answer to your legal question, but here is one example of a discussion of ethics with open source hardware projects,
  
  http://makezine.com/2012/02/14/soapbox-the-unspoken-rules-of-open-source-hardware/
  
  https://www.google.com/search?q=open+source+hardware+license
  
  What you're suggesting sounds like a possible end result would be to siphon off support and funding from the original creators. How would that feel if the reverse situation were true? (Your own creations being rebranded and sold by another?)  :-)  Forks / clones happen more often in the open source software field, but hardware projects have much higher infrastructure overhead.
  
  Regards,
  
  William [NAL: Not A Lawyer]
  
• Nike USA

  January 2016

  Well the people at Arduino allow commercialization as long as the re-sellers do not use the Arduino brand. There are "Arduino" boards out there that are more premium than the original boards which I think is good.

  
  

  Arduino being one of bigger players when it comes to open source hardware states on their FAQ that

  
  

  "Physically embedding an Arduino board inside a commercial product does not require you to disclose or open-source any information about its design. 

  *Deriving the design of a commercial product from the Eagle files for an Arduino board requires you to release the modified files under the same Creative Commons Attribution Share-Alike license. You may manufacture and sell the resulting product.

  *Using the Arduino core and libraries for the firmware of a commercial product does not require you to release the source code for the firmware. The LGPL does, however, require you to make available object files that allow for the relinking of the firmware against updated versions of the Arduino core and libraries. Any modifications to the core and libraries must be released under the LGPL.

  *The source code for the Arduino environment is covered by the GPL, which requires any modifications to be open-sourced under the same license. It does not prevent the sale of derivative software or its inclusion in commercial products.

  
  

  They make it somewhat clear as to what you can and cant do. OpenBCI makes no indication as far as I can tell as to what licenses they hold. I think first one should think legally before making social/moral decisions. 
• wjcroft Mount Shasta, CA

  January 2016

  Curious if you have any affiliation with the U.S. corporation, 'Nike'?
  
  Can you explain what kind of project you have in mind? What are your goals? It sounds like you are considering producing large quantities or incorporating BCI into another product. Otherwise why not just purchase from OpenBCI and support the project?
  
  As economics evolves, many writers now speak of making decisions incorporating both wisdom from the heart as well as the mind.
  
  http://sacred-economics.com/
  
  
  
• wjcroft Mount Shasta, CA

  January 2016

  http://openbci.com/index.php/copyright
  
  
• Nike USA

  January 2016

  I cant say much but the goal is to use OpenBCI as a low cost proof of concept before investing in our own proprietary hardware and software. We just don't want to deal with the possibility of the litigation from OpenBCI for using their work. From my understanding OpenBCI don't have any patents, and after doing more research on this company I think we're in the clear.
• wjcroft Mount Shasta, CA

  January 2016

  I suggest emailing Joel @biomurph at the email given above on the Copyright page, and clarify your original statement of: "For example what if I took the Gaglion board made an improvement, re-branded it and sold it as my own. Or what if I did that with the Ultracortex headgear?"

  
  

  That statement sounds very different than "use OpenBCI as a low cost proof of concept before investing in our own proprietary hardware and software."

  
  

  I think the spirit with open source hardware is to give back something to the community if you have benefitted from the community.

  
  

  
  
• wjcroft Mount Shasta, CA

  January 2016

  To repeat your quote above from the Arduino FAQ: "Deriving the design of a commercial product from the [schematic/circuit] files for an Arduino board requires you to release the modified files under the same Creative Commons Attribution Share-Alike license. You may manufacture and sell the resulting product."

  
  

  OpenBCI Copyright page lists this same Creative Commons license.

  
  
• Nike USA

  January 2016

  To save on a future headache we'll just purchase from OpenBCI and use their work for a proof of concept. We'll develop our own closed hardware tailored to our needs, there wont be any "re-branding" I commented about earlier.
• biomurph Brooklyn, NY

  February 2016

  @nike

  Thanks for your purchase

  We only own the OpenBCI brand and logo, and we will allow use of our brand under licensing conditions.

  We allow derivations of our work covered by the CCBY license for commercial and noncommercial purposes, on the condition that the modified files are released under the same license.

  
  

  For more information about the hardware license, please see the documentation included in the design files download.