On 10/01/2019 07:11, Perry Ismangil wrote:
I'm not a patent lawyer, yet it seems to me thinking about *patents* in an *open source* hardware group is a really alien concept to me.
Whilst not compatible with everyones views, it could be used to license to non-profits and non-agressives only, to ensure big-corps don't stifle the little guys. Openness isn't the only way to make the world a better place and preventing use of an idea that leads to injury/persecution has to be a good thing.
It's also a very explicit way of ensuring the idea is published as patent offices often miss minor publications (e.g. unless a mailing list has indexed/searchable archives it would probably not be seen) and once a patent is granted it takes a huge effort to overturn. Better publish this way and then grant open use.