OSHW rights

Open Source Forever

“Open source hardware is hardware whose design is made publicly available so that anyone can study, modify, distribute, make, and sell the design or hardware based on that design. The hardware’s source, the design from which it is made, is available in the preferred format for making modifications to it. Ideally, open source hardware uses readily-available components and materials, standard processes, open infrastructure, unrestricted content, and open-source design tools to maximize the ability of individuals to make and use hardware. Open source hardware gives people the freedom to control their technology while sharing knowledge and encouraging commerce through the open exchange of designs.”

——The Open Source Hardware Definition

The Open Building Institute pledges to release as open source all of its own designs. With no exceptions.

All module and structure designs on this website, as well as instructionals, are publicly available under a CC-BY-SA license.

OBI follows OSHWA’s Open Source Hardware Definition. This means that all our designs and instructionals are released under licenses that:
1) allow replication, modification, derivatives and sales without requiring royalties;
2) do not discriminate against fields of endeavor.

Furthermore, OBI’s work uses licenses with a share-alike or viral clause in order to encourage contributions to a common and universally-accessible pool of human knowledge. This means that all derivatives and improvements made to OBI designs by others must also be released under OSHWA-compliant licenses.

We will prioritize collaborations with projects and organizations that follow the same open source principles over projects with proprietary licenses or non-commercial clauses. While we may, whenever necessary, use proprietary components and tools (hardware and software) developed by others, we will give preference to open source components and tools as long as they meet the project’s functional requirements.

The Open Building Institute reserves, however, the use of its name and logo to authorized agents.