Fab Lab, Intellectual Property & Sharing

Peter Troxler trox@fabfolk.com

Peter Troxler
2 years FabLab Amsterdam
during this time also working with Creative Commons Netherlands

since 2009 freelance FabLab expert & coach

community stewardship FabLab topics: business models, management, documentation & sharing setting up Fab Labs: Switzerland (Luzern, Zurich), Netherlands (Rotterdam),

Intellectual Property
the notion, that the results of intellectual or creative work have the same (legal) qualities as physical property this idea makes some sense with unique artworks hard to understand why something that can be copied without taking away the original should be property

History of Patents
Patents apparently existed in ancient Greece Monopolies, granted by the kings, e.g.
1105 Count William of Mortagne grants a patent to a Norman abbot for erecting wind mills 1449 Henry VI grants a patent to John of Utynam for making stained glass

15th century Venice: patents on glass-making, mainly to control the trade 1624, UK: Statute of Monopolies Parliament act against monopolies granted by the Crown = monopolies should be granted only for the introduction of new manufactures to the inventor 1790 patent law in the US 1791 patent law in France

History of Copyright
15th century Europe: the printing press Crown & church felt a need to control printing license to print and trade books (i.e. censorship) England, 16th century: printers guild Stationers company 1709 Statute of Anne An Act for the Encouragement of Learning, by vesting the Copies of Printed Books in the Authors or purchasers of such Copies, during the Times therein mentioned = trade regulation
limiting the term of protection breaking up the monopoly of the Stationers Company: copyright availability to anyone

Intellectual Property Protection

protection of the commercial* interests of a creator/inventor a monopoly to use the creation/invention (thing) for commercial gain various types or protection, depending on the type of thing some types arise automatically, some types only on registration
* in some types and legislations also moral interests

Fab Charter
Secrecy: designs and processes developed in fab labs must remain available for individual use although intellectual property can be protected however you choose Sharing for individual use learning This is provided for in some of the legal IP protection mechanisms (privat use, educational exception, fair use

The Stuff We Make

What type of thing Things that work Ornamental things Beautiful things Electronic cirquits Code (Software) Documentation

The Stuff We Make

What type of thing Things that work Ornamental things Beautiful things Electronic cirquits Code (Software) Documentation Legally speaking inventions (technology) industrial designs works of art and literature ? work of art and literature invention / work of art work of art and literature

The Stuff We Make

What type of thing Things that work Ornamental things Beautiful things Electronic cirquits Code (Software) Documentation
1

Legally speaking inventions (technology) industrial designs

Protection mechanism Patent

1

Industrial design right

works of art Copyright and literature ? work of art Copyright and literature invention / work of art Patent / Copyright

work of art Copyright and literature

2

also: Utility model

Trademark: distinctive sign or indicator

Patent
A patent consists of a set of exclusive rights granted by a sovereign state to an inventor or their assignee for a limited period of time in exchange for the public disclosure of an invention. The rights typically include the right to prevent others from making, using, selling, or distributing the patented invention without permission. A patent is granted upon application Typically a patent application must include one or more claims defining the invention which must meet the relevant patentability requirements such as novelty and non-obviousness. A patent lasts normally 20 years.

Industrial Design Right

An Industrial Design Right protects the visual design of objects that are not purely utilitarian. An industrial design consists of the creation of a shape, configuration or composition of pattern or color, or combination of pattern and color in three dimensional form containing aesthetic value. An industrial design can be a two- or three-dimensional pattern used to produce a product, industrial commodity or handicraft. The rights typically include the right to prevent others from making, using, selling, or distributing the object without permission. The Design Right protection is granted upon application however in the EU there is the Unregistered Design Right that automatically gives protection of 3 year from the first disclosure of the design A design must be novel and have individual character Design rights last normally up to 25 years in 5 year periods (need to be renewed)

Copyright
Copyright gives the creator of an original work exclusive rights: Copyright it is "the right to copy", the right to determine who may financially benefit from it, who may adapt the work to other forms, who may perform the work (related rights); and it gives the creator the right to be be credited for the work, not to have it falsely attributed, and to not have their work used in a derogatory or prejudicial manner (moral rights). Copyright arises automatically with the (physical) creation of the work. In the US, copyright can be registered which gives additional rights to recompensations in case of infringement Copyright is applicable to any expressible form of an idea or information that is substantive and discrete. Some countries require the notion of originality. A note on moral rights: those can not be traded. Copyright normally lasts 70 years post mortem auctoris

Utility Models
A utility model is an intellectual property right to protect inventions. This right is available in a number of many national statutes. It is very similar to the patent, but usually has less stringent patentability requirements. Petty patent (Indonesia), poor mans patent Term often 6 to 15 years

Trademarks
A trademark is the right to sue for unauthorized use of that trademark A trademark requires registration () but not in the US, there it is sufficient to use it in trade, so there also exist unregistered trademarks () A trademark is typically a name, word, phrase, logo, symbol, design, image, or a combination of these elements. There is also a range of non-conventional trademarks comprising marks which do not fall into these standard categories, such as those based on color, smell, or sound. The registration of a trademark can be revoked Trademark needs to be maintained (renewed), typically every 10 years, indefinitely

Integrated Circuit Topologies

Because of the functional nature of the mask geometry, the designs cannot be protected under copyright law (except perhaps as decorative art). Because individual lithographic mask works are not clearly protectable subject matter, they also cannot be effectively protected under patent law. So since the 1990s, national governments have been granting copyright-like intellectual property rights conferring time-limited exclusivity to reproduction of a particular layout. Protection term is much shorter: 1015 years Protection upon registration or first commercial use

Trade Secret
A trade secret is a formula, practice, process, design, instrument, pattern, or compilation of information which is not generally known or reasonably ascertainable, by which a business can obtain an economic advantage over competitors or customers. In some jurisdictions, such secrets are referred to as "confidential information" or "classified information". A company can protect its confidential information through noncompete and non-disclosure contracts with its employees or business partners.

The Stuff We Make

What type of thing Things that work Ornamental things Beautiful things Electronic cirquits Code (Software) Documentation

Legally speaking inventions (technology) industrial designs

Protection mechanism Patent Industrial design right

What is still possible private use, research private use, inspiration private use, educational privat use, educational see above private use, educational

works of art Copyright and literature ? work of art Copyright and literature invention / work of art Patent / Copyright

work of art Copyright and literature

WARNING: not in the US

The Stuff We Make

What type of thing Things that work Ornamental things Beautiful things Electronic cirquits Code (Software) Documentation

Legally speaking inventions (technology) industrial designs

Protection mechanism Patent Industrial design right

What is still possible private use, research private use, inspiration private use, educational privat use, educational see above private use, educational

Sharing mechanism Defensive publication ? Creative Commons Creative Commons FLOSS licenses Creative Commons

works of art Copyright and literature ? work of art Copyright and literature invention / work of art Patent / Copyright

work of art Copyright and literature

WARNING: not in the US

Defensive Publication
A defensive publication, or defensive disclosure, is an intellectual property strategy used to prevent another party from obtaining a patent on a product, apparatus or method for instance. The strategy consists in disclosing an enabling description and/or drawing of the product, apparatus or method so that it enters the public domain and becomes prior art. Therefore, the defensive publication of perhaps otherwise patentable information may work to defeat the novelty of a subsequent patent application. Needs to be available to a relevant audience (e.g. conference, trade journal)

Creative Commons
A system of public licenses that grant reuse of copyrighted work The strategy is to use a publicly available, standardized license to replace the normal contractual relationship between rights holder and user. Rights holder can select, which restrictions s/he wants to add to the general permission to use, distribute or perform the work additionally to crediting the creator and mentioning the license
Share-alike user must re-license derivatives under the same license Non-commercial use in connection with making money is not allowed (not even fundraising for a charity or putting on a blog with Google Ads to cover hosting costs) No derivatives use only unaltered copies

There are (up to now) national versions of the licenses the idea was to adapt the licenses to national legislation. This is probably going to disappear Pay attention to compatibility issues when re-using material

FLOSS
Free / Libre / Open Source Software Free Software
Freedom Freedom Freedom Freedom GPL LGPL BSD 0: 1: 2: 3: to run the program for any purpose to study how the program works, and change it to redistribute copies to improve the program, and release modified versions

Various licenses

The Stuff We Make

What type of thing Things that work Ornamental things Beautiful things Electronic cirquits Code (Software) Documentation Legally speaking inventions (technology) industrial designs Protection mechanism Patent Industrial design right What is still possible private use, research private use, inspiration private use, educational privat use, educational see above private use, educational Sharing mechanism Defensive publication ? Creative Commons Creative Commons FLOSS licenses Creative Commons

works of art Copyright and literature ? work of art Copyright and literature invention / work of art Patent / Copyright

work of art Copyright and literature

Case FabFi
open-source, FabLab-grown system to transmit wireless ethernet signals across distances of up to several miles Documentation available at http://code.google.com/p/fabfi/wiki/ WikiHome?tm=6 under a Creative Commons by unported license, 3.0 General project description available at http://fabfi.fablab.af/ under a Creative Commons by-sa license Uses various software components under various licenses, e.g. Squid web caching is distributed under the GNU General Public License (version 2), other licenses include the new BSD license (SchoolNet parts) and the Apache 2.0 license (LuCId http slave)

Case Ultimaker
Open Source, FabLab-grown 3D printer, based on the RepRap Documentation available at http://reprap.org/wiki/Ultimaker %27s_v1.5.4_PCB and http://wiki.ultimaker.com/Main_Page under the GNU Free Documentation License Lasercut drawings available at http://www.thingiverse.com/thing: 13571 under Creative Commons by-nc unported license ver. 3.0 Note that the GNU FDL and CC-BY-NC are not compatible; GNU FDL allows commercial reuse, GNU FDL requires preservation of Invariant Sections.

Neil Gershenfeld
The bad news is that intellectual property is no longer protectable. The good news is that intellectual property can still exist, but it will not be based on control of scarce resources. Companies will seek compensation by how they add value, not on their control of IP.

Sources Used
FabFi documentation http://fabfi.fablab.af http://code.google.com/p/fabfi/wiki Frumkin, M. (1945). The Origin of Patent Law. Journal of the Patent Office Society 27 (3) March 1945, 143-149. Available online: http://www.compilerpress.ca/Library/Frumkin%20Origin%20of%20Patents%20JPOS%201945.htm Schlesinger, D. (2010). The Globalization of Science and Technology. Available at http://www.weforum.org/sessions/summary/ globalization-science-and-technology Ultimaker documentation: http://reprap.org/wiki/Ultimaker%27s_v1.5.4_PCB http://wiki.ultimaker.com/Main_Page http://www.thingiverse.com/thing:13571 Wikipedia articles on the subjects (all under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License, http://creativecommons.org/ licenses/by-sa/3.0/): http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_patent_law http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_of_Utynam http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_copyright_law http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Statute_of_Anne http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Patent http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Industrial_design_rights http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Copyright http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Agreement_on_Trade-Related_Aspects_of_Intellectual_Property_Rights http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gebrauchsmuster http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Utility_model http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trademark http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trade_secret http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Integrated_circuit_layout_design_protection