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TAPR Open Hardware License
Also known as: TAPR OHL, OHL
Facts (26)
Sources
Open Hardware Licenses - P2P Foundation Wiki wiki.p2pfoundation.net Jun 17, 2015 11 facts
claimThe TAPR Open Hardware License, the Simputer GPL (SPGL), the Balloon Licence, and the Hardware Design Public Licence (HDPL) are examples of licenses used for open hardware.
referenceThe TAPR Open Hardware License (OHL) includes an agreement that requires users of the design to waive their patent rights to sue the design's originators and users, though it has no effect on any other patent rights exercised by anyone not using the licensed design.
claimThe TAPR Open Hardware License served as a guideline during the creation of the Open Source Hardware Definition.
referenceThe TAPR Open Hardware License is based on the GNU GPL but addresses the legal differences between hardware (patents) and software (copyright). It forbids any other license from preventing the rights to copy and modify documentation or to make and use products made using that documentation.
claimThe TAPR Open Hardware License is based on the GPL, but unlike the GPL, it is not primarily a copyright license.
claimThe TAPR Open Hardware License (Version 1.0), published in May 2007, is specifically targeted at open hardware and utilizes both copyright and a mutual patent immunity clause.
claimThe TAPR Open Hardware License serves as a legal framework for Open Hardware projects.
referenceSection 4.2 (b) of the TAPR Open Hardware License requires users to distribute both the original designs received from others and their own modified versions of those files.
claimUnder the TAPR Open Hardware License, a licensor grants users who comply with the license terms the right to use any relevant patents controlled by the licensor, while non-compliance may result in patent infringement lawsuits.
claimThe TAPR Open Hardware License (OHL) includes an agreement not to sue, which prevents users of a TAPR OHL design from using patents to effectively take over the design.
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.
Open-source hardware - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia smoothieware.github.io Apr 15, 2016 6 facts
accountThe TAPR Open Hardware License was drafted by attorney John Ackermann, reviewed by open-source software community leaders Bruce Perens and Eric S. Raymond, and discussed by hundreds of volunteers in an open community discussion.
claimThe CERN Open Hardware License (OHL) and the TAPR Open Hardware License (OHL) are copyleft licenses specifically designed for hardware.
claimThe Open Source Hardware Association recommends seven licenses that adhere to their open-source hardware definition: the GNU General Public License (GPL), the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike license, the CERN Open Hardware License (OHL), the TAPR Open Hardware License (OHL), the FreeBSD license, the MIT license, and the Creative Commons Attribution license.
claimThe Tucson Amateur Packet Radio Corporation (TAPR) created the TAPR Open Hardware License in 2007, which was the first open hardware license.
claimIn 2012, Openhardware.org recommended the TAPR Open Hardware License, the Creative Commons BY-SA 3.0 license, and the GPL 3.0 license for open-source hardware projects.
claimEric S. Raymond, as president of the Open Source Initiative (OSI), expressed concerns regarding certain aspects of the TAPR Open Hardware License and decided not to review the license.
Open Hardware licenses curriculum.openhardware.space 2 facts
Lesson 3: licenses and open science hardware ucla-imls-open-sci.info Jun 13, 2025 2 facts
claimOpen source hardware licenses are categorized into two main types: Copyleft licenses (such as CERN-OHL-S and TAPR OHL), which require that any derivatives be shared under the same license, and Permissive licenses (such as Solderpad and CERN-OHL-P), which allow broad reuse with minimal restrictions, including in proprietary contexts.
claimCopyleft licenses for open science hardware, such as CERN-OHL-S or TAPR OHL, require that any modifications or derived designs are shared openly under the same terms.
Open Source Hardware - Devopedia devopedia.org Jun 3, 2019 1 fact
claimCopyleft (share-alike or viral) licenses applicable to hardware include GPL, CC BY-SA, CERN Open Hardware License (OHL), and TAPR Open Hardware License (OHL).
Brief History of Open Source Hardware Organizations and ... oshwa.org 1 fact
claimThe TAPR Open Hardware License was the first hardware-specific open source license, developed by TAPR to help a group of software-defined radio developers protect their work from commercial co-option.
Open Source Hardware Association - Wikipedia en.wikipedia.org 1 fact
claimThe Open Source Hardware Association acts as a hub for open-source hardware activity and cooperates with initiatives including the TAPR Open Hardware License, open-source development groups at CERN, and the Open Source Initiative (OSI).
Standardisation of practices in Open Source Hardware arxiv.org 1 fact
claimThe TAPR Open Hardware License (TAPR OHL) was the first hardware-specific open source license, designed to protect digital telecommunication devices.
Defining open hardware - LWN.net lwn.net Oct 18, 2023 1 fact
referenceThe Open Source Hardware Association (OSHWA) recommends the following copyleft licenses for open-source hardware: the GPL, Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike (CC-BY-SA), the CERN Open Hardware license, and the TAPR Open Hardware License.