This page is a container serving as a basis for communication during the CERN OHL v2 drafting process. It has the draft text attached, as well as an embryo of the Frequently Asked Questions which will accompany the release.
Frequently Asked Questions about CERN OHL v2
CERN OHL v2 general questions
Q: What does CERN OHL v2 try to achieve?
A: The CERN Open Hardware Licence aims at providing a solid legal basis for the sharing of hardware designs. In version 2, we intend to give Licensors different options for the sharing mechanism: strongly reciprocal, weakly reciprocal and permissive.
Q: What is the scope of CERN OHL v2?
A: The licence is meant to cover Open Source Hardware (OSHW) designs. It has no concern with proprietary developments. When we drafted it, we also made sure it can be used for free and open source software, even if that is not its main aim,
Q: What are the rights the licence rests upon?
A: The licence text makes no assumptions about the rights that will be invoked to sustain it. These may include but are not limited to copyright, patents, design rights, and database rights.
Q: Why is CERN doing this?
A: One of the most important parts of CERN's mandate is knowledge dissemination. OSHW is a natural way to disseminate hardware designs done at CERN to the rest of society. It is also important that a licence such as CERN OHL is stewarded by an institution whose mandate and values can guarantee its stability over time.
Questions about reciprocal hardware licensing
Q: Copyright does not cover hardware. How do you implement strongly reciprocal licensing in CERN OHL v2?
A: Roughly speaking, the hardware equivalent of a binary object in the free and open-source software world would be a tangible object made thanks to design files licensed under an OSHW licence. So implementing a reciprocal licence involves solving the challenge of ensuring that the recipient of a piece of hardware gets access to the original design files. CERN OHL v2 provides two mechanisms to ensure that:
-
The licence explicitly asks to provide an easy way
-
two