[cc-community] Open Hardware Licence

Matthew Hiebert mbhiebert at yahoo.ca
Thu May 7 11:27:15 EDT 2009


Hi all,

I'm following this thread with interest.  I have a related question,  
but in my case it's very non-technical IP, I've simply designed some  
unusual wooden block toys.  I don't know if this falls into the Open  
Source Hardware category...

I am looking for information or precedents of using CC (or copyright)  
to protect 3D works.  As I understand it, artistic works like a 3D  
sculpture are copyrightable, especially if the creative and functional  
aspects of the work are clearly separable.  But the line dividing  
copyright and patent jurisdiction is not very clear to me.

The blocks I've developed stack in unconventional ways to create  
attractive and surprising forms.  I see them more as an artistic  
expression than an industrial design.  I love the idea of CC licensing  
and would like to stamp the packaging with a CC license (BY-NC-SA), in  
part to show my support for CC, but also in part because I am  
interested in protecting the creative work to some extent.

So my question is if any folks in the CC community know of examples of  
3D works or products (as opposed to text based/graphic/ or audio  
works) to which CC licensing has been applied.  It's possible that my  
block design would be patentable, but even if it were I don't want to  
go that route... I want to support the philosophy of Creative Commons,  
and am more interested in that aspect of using the license than I am  
about any real "protection" of the idea per se.

I would appreciate any thoughts on this, or examples you might be  
aware of which would be relevant.

Thanks so much,

Matt Hiebert



On 09-May-6, at 16:51 , Mike Linksvayer wrote:

> On Wed, May 6, 2009 at 2:54 PM, Chris Watkins
> <chriswaterguy at appropedia.org> wrote:
>> On Wed, May 6, 2009 at 14:44, Patrick Godeau  
>> <patrick.godeau at free.fr> wrote:
>>>
>>> Hello Stuart,
>>>
>>> Maybe you will be interested in the IANG license. It applies to  
>>> any type
>>> of intellectual creation, including hardware.
>>>
>>> http://iang.info/en/
>>
>> "Last, this license requires the democratic exercise of the  
>> freedoms it
>> grants. It allows every person contributing to a creative or economic
>> project based on the creation to participate in decisions  
>> concerning this
>> project."
>>
>> So IIUC you can't actually do what you want with the work - you  
>> have to go
>> with a decision made jointly with other contributors? Meaning it's  
>> not
>> really a *free* license... unless there is a right to fork, in  
>> which case
>> it's just a "kind of free" license with an pre-determined approach to
>> project management.
>>
>> Does it offer any greater protection for designs of physical  
>> objects? I
>> couldn't see anything about this, so I'm not sure what advantage it  
>> offers
>> over a Creative Commons license or other open license.
>
> It looks like IANG is effectively like BY-NC-ND, with an extremely
> vague provision for specific commercialization and modifications that
> the project decides to allow in a democratic fashion.
>
> Another minor but annoying thing is in the footer -- the license text
> itself is apparently "copyleft" but only verbatim copying is allowed.
>
> I guess they chose their name well, because GNU is a lot smarter than
> this -- IANG Aint No GNU, indeed.
>
>
> Mike
> _______________________________________________
> cc-community mailing list
> cc-community at lists.ibiblio.org
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--
Matthew Hiebert
Technical Coordinator
CSR:STEMS Project, Bangladesh








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