Knowledge Tree
copyright law
Facts (25)
Sources
Open Hardware Licenses - P2P Foundation Wiki wiki.p2pfoundation.net Jun 17, 2015 6 facts
claimCopyright law governs the distribution of information but not its usage, meaning that while a book describing how to build a product is protected by copyright, the factual information contained within the book is not, and individuals can use that information to build and sell the product without violating copyright law.
referenceThe Free Software Foundation (FSF) states in their GPL FAQ that while the GPLv3 can be used to license copyrightable material like hardware drawings or semiconductor masks, it does not impose license obligations on someone who uses that information to create, distribute, or sell physical hardware, as that falls outside the scope of copyright law.
claimCopyright law protects documentation from unauthorized copying, modification, and distribution, but it does not govern the right to manufacture, distribute, or use physical products based on that documentation.
claimMost hardware licenses differ fundamentally from software licenses because they typically rely more heavily on patent law than on copyright law, as copyright licenses control the distribution of source code or design documents, while patent licenses control the use and manufacturing of the physical device.
claimThe TAPR Open Hardware License is a share-alike license developed by the TAPR community of radio amateurs specifically for hardware, relying on patent law rather than copyright law.
claimCopyleft licenses like the GNU General Public License (GPL) and the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License (BY-SA) are popular in the field of free and open hardware, but they function differently than in software because hardware is generally not protected by copyright law.
Why Open Source Stalls Innovation and Patents Advance It ipwatchdog.com Jul 5, 2010 3 facts
claimMany members of the software community mistakenly believe that patent law and copyright law are roughly equivalent and that copyrights are sufficient to protect intellectual property assets associated with software.
claimPatent law differs from copyright law because it does not include a 'fair use' provision and does not require proof of copying to establish infringement.
claimCopyright law requires proof of copying, meaning an individual cannot be found liable for infringement if they did not have access to the original work and did not copy it.
Open-source license - Wikipedia en.wikipedia.org 3 facts
accountAfter 1980, the United States began to treat software as a literary work covered by copyright law.
quoteRichard Stallman stated that "the central idea of copyleft is to use copyright law, but flip it over to serve the opposite of its usual purpose: instead of a means of privatizing software, [copyright] becomes a means of keeping software free."
claimUnder United States copyright law, the creator or their employer holds the copyright to an original work and has the exclusive right to make copies, release modified versions, distribute copies, perform publicly, or display the work publicly.
Open-source software - Wikipedia en.wikipedia.org 3 facts
claimEurope placed technological protection measures (TPM) under legal controls in response to complaints from open-source software proponents who argued these technologies constrained end-users beyond copyright law.
accountThe 2008 legal case Jacobson v Katzer established an important precedent for open-source software by enforcing the terms of the Artistic license, including requirements for attribution and the identification of modifications, thereby cementing enforcement under copyright law when license conditions are not followed.
claimCopyright law became the standard for protecting software, with computer programs generally considered a form of literary work, following debates on whether to use patent law, copyright law, or unique regulations.
Open Hardware Licenses - The Turing Way book.the-turing-way.org 3 facts
claimOpen source hardware licenses are based on copyright law, which does not transfer well to physical hardware, potentially limiting the protections these licenses offer.
claimLicenses applied to open hardware documentation function based on copyright law, which protects the creative aspects of the design but does not protect the functional aspects.
claimOpen source hardware licensing is complicated because hardware often combines creative and functional elements, and copyright law does not protect functional items.
Open Source Software: What is OSS? - Sonatype sonatype.com 2 facts
What is OSS? - CircleCI circleci.com Jun 10, 2024 1 fact
claimViolating an Open Source Software license constitutes a violation of copyright law.
Open-source hardware - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia smoothieware.github.io Apr 15, 2016 1 fact
claimMost hardware licenses differ from software licenses because they rely more heavily on patent law than on copyright law, as many hardware designs are not copyrightable.
The Complete Guide to Open Source Licenses - FOSSA fossa.com 1 fact
claimOpen source licenses provide the legal foundation for collaborative software development by granting permissions and setting conditions for the use, modification, and distribution of software, which bypasses the default restrictions of copyright law.
What is open hardware? | Opensource.com opensource.com 1 fact
claimCopyright law applies to open hardware source code and design documentation, while patent law applies to design processes and material technologies.
Open Source Hardware - The Turing Way book.the-turing-way.org 1 fact
claimHardware licensing is more complex than software licensing because some hardware projects are governed by patent law rather than copyright law.