[OpenTRV-dev] V0.2-Arduino: getting started (licensing)

[Damon Hart-Davis]

>> 
> IANAL, but from my reading around open hardware licenses the other day, I get the impression the hardware design license doesn't count for much.  The _functionality_ of a hardware design can be protected by patents, but not copyright, and in the case of Arduino they are instead relying on a trademark to protect their brand.  As long as we aren't doing a straight copy of the Arduino PCB layout (copyright), and perhaps if we say "popular Italian prototyping platform compatible" (trademark) then there is no problem.

There's a relatively clear section on their site about what is and isn't allowed on the naming front: that isn't giving me any sleepless nights.

http://arduino.cc/en/Main/FAQ "What should I call my boards?"

We're not going to be selling competing "Arduino" boards so mentioning that ours may be partly Arduino-Compatible shouldn't be an issue.

If we use their Eagle files then we'd have to apply a CC licence with which OSI gets twitchy I think, but I suspect that we'd just redraw schematics and layout boards for our purposes and would be at liberty to use Apache/Solderpad/etc licensing for those (new) design elements.

The "C/C++ microcontroller libraries are under the LGPL" so no problem there at all I think.

Rgds

Damon