Announcements

In our last update we promised to continue to monitor the coronavirus situation and to update the community as things evolved. Today we are announcing that things have evolved, and explaining what that means for the community and the Summit.

1. We are switching to an all-virtual summit for 2020.  We are coordinating with speakers to move all presentations to streaming online video.  You can expect a schedule similar to the one we have already announced, as well as a robust set of online chat options for the community to discuss the day’s events.
2. We also still plan on holding the pre-party happy hour the evening of March 12 for community members who are in NYC.  The happy hour is free to anyone who is able to attend. If you are in the area we look forward to seeing you there.  However, we do not recommend traveling to NYC just for the happy hour.  
3. We continue to offer full refunds on tickets to anyone who has purchased tickets to the Summit.  Contact info@oshwa.org for more details.
4. We will be sending full swag bags to all ticket holders.
5. Next year’s summit will be in NYC again on April 9, 2021. Mark your calendars!

While we are sorry to have to make this change, we are still excited about this year’s Summit.   We have a fantastic lineup of speakers and even more OSHWA announcements planned. While we know that many members of our community will be disappointed not to be able to see each other in person this year, we look forward to seeing all of you virtually on Friday and in person in 2021.

Thank you all again for being part of the open source hardware community! 

In light of ongoing news related to the coronavirus we want to provide the community with an update about the Summit scheduled for March 13 in NYC.  The most important update is that the Summit is on and we intend to hold it as planned.  The second most important update is that OSHWA is monitoring the situation.

The Summit is always an important event to open source hardware community. This year’s Summit is doubly special because it is the 10th anniversary of the Summit and we were forced to skip the Summit last year.  In light of those factors OSHWA is committed to holding the Summit next week as long as it is viable to do so. Even a somewhat smaller Summit is an opportunity for the community to come together, discuss open source hardware, and connect in person.

We are aware of concerns related to the coronavirus and do not take them lightly.  We also recognize that this is an evolving situation. We will continue to monitor the situation, as well as guidance provided by authorities,  and may revisit our decision if it is warranted. That will be especially true if our host venue of NYU Law decides to suspend events – a decision they have given us no indication of making as of now.  However, at this point we do not believe that the situation warrants the cancelation of the event. 

We do recognize that many members of our community have purchased tickets to the Summit and now find themselves unable or unwilling to attend.  We ask that you notify us if this is the case so we can accommodate and adjust accordingly. As always, we will stream the Summit live and invite all members of the community who are unable to attend for any reason to join us virtually the day of the Summit.  We are also happy to provide refunds to those ticket holders who now feel unable to attend. If you would like a refund for your ticket, or have other questions about the Summit, please contact us at summit@oshwa.org.

Finally, we look forward to seeing many of you next week.  If you have been considering coming but haven’t purchased your ticket yet, now would be a great time to decide to join us!

Hello Open Hardware Community,

Thank you for the overwhelming response with your submissions again this year.

We have announced the first round of confirmed speakers for Open Hardware Summit 2020. We are excited to have them speak on various topics from 3d printing to space, chip-level design, and robots.

This being the 10th annual summit, the speakers will also cover learnings from the past decade and what to expect in the next decade of the open hardware revolution. Check out the list here- https://2020.oshwa.org/speakers/

We will announce the next set of speakers and schedule soon.

Looking forward to seeing you at the Summit on the 13th of March 2020.

Welcome to the following 2019-2021 board members! Thank you to all OSHWA members who voted, your vote is important – we had quorum! Here are the results:

Become an OSHWA member today to vote on nominees!

This year, we have 4 open seats on the OSHWA board. Board members will hold a 2-year position. Once board members have been chosen by the community, the board will appoint a President, VP, and Secretary. As every nominee answered “Yes” to having 5-10 hours a month to give to the board, we did not include that question in each nominee’s data. Board responsibilities include fundraising, advising on goals and direction, and carrying out compliance of the organization’s purposes and bylaws. The vote will be open on Oct. 16th-18th. Members will be emailed a link to vote.

Here are the nominees in alphabetical order:

Joe McManus

Why do you want to be on the board? I firmly believe in the positive contribution to the world that open source hardware and software has made. Technology advances created by the open source ecosystem aside, the positive impact on society is immeasurable. I would love to add a usable/practical security view to the board.

What qualifies you to be a board member? I work for the open source company Canonical where I am the director of security leading a global team of engineers ensuring that users of Ubuntu are secure. Additionally I have been a senior security researcher at CERT part of the Software Engineering Institute at Carnegie Mellon University for the past 14 years. While there I contributed to open source NetFlow monitoring software which is used to protect over 14% of all internet traffic. For 5 years I was a professor where I ran the graduate security program at CU Boulder. Prior to that I have held positions in industry such as Director of Security, Head of R&D, programmer, sys admin, dba, bike messenger, etc.

Katherine Scott

Why do you want to be on the board? I am currently the developer advocate at Open Robotics. I want to help cultivate the open hardware community for robotics.

What qualifies you to be a board member? I’ve been a board member in the past and attended several conference Open Hardware Summit. I have helped create open hardware and software in the past.

Nadya Peek

Why do you want to be on the board? I believe technology to be a democratic tool. To enable this, I believe in creating reusable, modular, extensible, interoperable, and accessible technologies. Specifically, I believe in creating infrastructural technologies that can serve any (unintended) application. The Internet is a previous example of a successful infrastructure (providing a platform for applications such as the world wide web, email, or VOIP). Crucially, internet standards were open, free, and iteratively created by a community of practitioners. I believe Open Source Hardware can (and sometimes already does) fulfill similar infrastructural needs. Especially with respect to enabling distributed, low-volume, precise manufacturing tools, I believe it is crucial to create, maintain, and improve free and open standards and to prevent walled gardens or silos of technology. More than that, I also believe we need to create recommendations and guidelines for what makes open source hardware reproducible and extensible by other people, which I believe is more than putting some source online in a repo somewhere. Maker culture champions broader-base participation in technology, and I want to work on making sure that participation makes real lasting changes. I would like to serve on the board of the Open Hardware Association as I believe it to be an organization uniquely focused on developing, discussing, and disseminating open standards for technology.

What qualifies you to be a board member? I have been actively developing open source hardware for more than a decade! I’m a professor at the University of Washington where I direct a research group called Machine Agency which is dedicated to developing open-source hardware machines. I was on the board before, including serving as VP, but didn’t run for a year while I moved to the University of Washington. Now I’m all set up with a sweet new lab! I have previously worked on many engineering teams including for aerospace, manufacturing, medical devices, and architectural applications. I have helped set up more than 50 Fablabs and makerspaces throughout the world, giving me ample experience with how many different kinds of people interact with many different kinds of technology. I help organize many conferences, including the Symposium on Computational Fabrication, the annual global Fablab conference, and our very own Open Source Hardware Summit, and am familiar with event planning and fund raising. I am an advisor to the Fab Foundation (a non-profit that globally facilitates fab labs), the Distributed Design Market Platform, a variety of hardware related start ups, and in the Tool Foundry Accelerator. I have spoken about hardware and manufacturing on many occasions including at the White House, Hackaday Supercon, TEDx, HOPE, Teardown, and Chaos Computer Club Congress. I have a PhD from MIT and am in a band called Construction.

Salman Faris

Why do you want to be on the board? After my Graduation I spent most of my time in FoxLab Makerspace as a mentor, mentoring Students across Kerala, I was one among the team that setup FoxLab Makerspace. I’m keenly interested in learning new things and attending technical sessions and developer conference all over Kerala, I became Malayalam Translation manager of DuckDuckGO based on my contribution , hackster ambassador and seeed studio ranger based on my contribution .

Working with some great creative minds in Foxlab I gathered a lot of knowledge in technological advancements and through them I got introduced to digital fabrication. I then heard about Fablab and I joined! Working through the machines in and using the resources available in the lab really helped me improve my skill in digital fabrication. It made me feel that Fablab was the best decision of my life. All the necessary knowledge could be gained from the weekly assignments and through the Fablab network I also got the chance to interact with a lot of talented people across the world. I could also share my creations with the world which could otherwise have never been possible. I felt like the whole world was helping me achieve my target. Everybody in the network was an expert in some field or the other. They guided me a lot and I’m much obliged to them. The feeling of progressing was a great source of motivation for me. I could see myself improve each day I spent in the lab. Fablab is such a great initiative by Prof. Neil.

I believe based on my past experience with the help of OSHWA support and expertise I can Organize conferences and community events and Educate the general public about open source hardware and its socially beneficial uses.

What qualifies you to be a board member? From childhood I was very much interested in electronics and engineering ,I was very passionate about it and curious about it , based on my interest to learn more technology I pursued my graduation in Computer Science , at the time I get to know about arduino , beaglebone and raspberry pi , until then I thought hardware is very hard to learn and also I can’t find any resources to get started and most of the resources are very expensive , after that I enjoyed my programming classes with the physical computing using the arduino and beaglebone . at the same time my colleagues are stuck with the programming theory classes , so then I started to introduce to open hardware and the physical computing and they are really enjoyed and I was successful getting them onboard .

At the time I was getting to know hackster contest , I participated in several of them , at first time noen of the get it but learned more about the hardware ecosystem and its possibilities and that time hackster started a new programme called hackster live ambassador , I applied I got selected as a hackster live ambassador in india , it was my turning point to communities , at the time in kerala (a state in India) most of them focuses on software communities like mozilla , GDG , FOSS ..etc so there is hardware communities , and I realized that I got a great opportunity to enable hardware ecosystem in kerala by this hackster hardware communities , so with friends from colleges we started to conduct offline events and event was sponsored by hackster they will also provide the hardware too . so from that I organized 100+ hardware meetups and workshops across kerala and been part 50+ hackathon as hardware mentor

After my college I joined MIT FabAcademy to pursue the digital fabrication diploma, it’s an academy that teaches to make almost anything , I really enjoyed each of every day in the academy , I also received Fablab kerala scholarship too , part of the academy I designed and completed an open source waste management system (http://archive.fabacademy.org/2018/labs/fablabkochi/students/salman-faris/)

After that I joined kerala startup mission (a Govt entity ) As technology innovation fellow , and my focus into fabrication technologies , as part of the fellowship I got many opportunities to attend many hardware conference like LoRa Conference India , Maker Faire Hyderabad ..etc also as part SeeedStudio (China based H/W service company ) contest I got the chance to be part of MakerFaire Shenzhen , Good for Open hardware Summit by GOSH , Kick started creator meetup , China Industrial tour ..etc and after that I got selected as SeeedStudio Ranger .

As part of the fellowship research I was working on a project called FabScope , Fab μ-Scope is cheap, open source microscope that can easily build from a Fablab, main goal is to give quality health checkup to poor people and societies to get medical attention when it’s needed. http://salmanfarisvp.com/Fab-MicroScope/

This year I was an instructor at fab lab kochi for the Fab Academy 2019 , and it was an awesome experience , after that now I was working on a maker space as Space manager

We makers and hardware enthusiast from kerala create a maker helping platform called makergram.com and I understand that knowledge is of no value unless it is shared and put to practice. I want to keep this pace of my progress and I feel it is my social commitment to inspire a lot of people across the world to make their ideas a reality.For that I would like to join the OSHAWA as Board Member . It would deeply satisfy me by working on open source hardware ducate the general public about open source hardware and its socially beneficial uses.

Link :

Github : https://github.com/salmanfarisvp
Hackster.io : https://www.hackster.io/Salmanfarisvp
Linkedin :: https://linkedin.com/in/salmanfarisvp/
MakerGram : https://community.makergram.com/user/salmanfaris
Facebook : https://www.facebook.com/salmanfarisnbr
Twitter : https://twitter.com/0xsalfar
Fab Academy : http://archive.fabacademy.org/2018/labs/fablabkochi/students/salman-faris/

Suhail P

Why do you want to be on the board? As a maker and open source hardware enthusiast, IAM always contributing to open source hardware by building my own projects and make technology more accessible to every person. i would like to support and promote open source hardware in depth by joining OSHWA board member to unleash more paths for that . Bringing more enthusiast to contribute into the the OSHWA community and make sure a good solid future for open source hardware. Iam trying to bring OSH culture in developing nations and rural areas were people lack of awareness about technologies.

What qualifies you to be a board member? Iam a part of major hardware communities in India. Running many open hardware programs and events across India with the help of govt. Also iam the official technology innovation fellow of Kerala startup mission ( a firm to support innovation and entrepreneurship by govt of Kerala) I am the corganizer of makerfest (a Indian version of makerfaire supported by Motvani jadeja found.). Running major online hardware community’s events locally. Spreading and building open source hardware and maker culture is my profession and I suppose to be contribute more in to the community.

OSHWA is looking for 4 new faces to join the board of directors for the Open Source Hardware Association. The nominee form is for self-nominations only. Please fill out the nominee form (deactivated Oct. 11th) to become a nominee or forward the link to someone you want to nominate. Do not fill out the form for someone else. The purpose of this form is to tell voting members why you want to serve on the OSHWA board. We will be publish the nominees and their answers on Oct 13th. Board members hold a 2-year position. Once board members have been chosen by the community, the board will appoint a President, VP, and Secretary. Board responsibilities include fundraising, advising on goals and direction, and carry out compliance with the organizations purposes and bylaws. See the board member agreement to get a sense of the responsibilities. Board members are expected to adhere to the board attendance policy and come prepared having read the board packet. Board members are expected to spend 5-10 hours of time per month on OSHWA. Nominees can submit questions to info@oshwa.org. Nominations will be open until Oct. 11th.

Member voting will take place Oct. 14-16. Want to vote in the election? Become a member! Please note that only individuals can vote, corporate members cannot.

October is Open Hardware Month! Check out the Open Hardware Month website. Host an event, find a local event, or certify your hardware to support Open Source Hardware.

We are providing resources and asking you, the community, to host small, local events in the name of open source hardware. Tell us about your October event by filling out the form below. Your event will be featured on OSHWA’s Open Hardware Month page (provided you have followed OSHWA’s rules listed on the “Do’s and Don’ts” page).

In 2020, we will be celebrating tenth anniversary of the Open Hardware Summit. The 2020 Open Hardware Summit will be held Friday, March 13th, 2020 at Tishman Auditorium – NYU School of Law located at 63 5th Ave, New York, NY 10003, USA.  For more information, please visit: http://2020.oshwa.org/

This blog post is an update for the OSHWA community about the 2019 Open Hardware Summit in Shenzhen, October as Open Hardware Month, and how OSHWA will think about Summits going forward.

The tl;dr version of this post is:

1. OSHWA will not be holding the Open Hardware Summit in 2019
2. OSHWA will be encouraging locally-organized events and gatherings across the globe as part of Open Hardware Month this October (email us at info@oshwa.org if would like to host one!)
3. OSHWA will shift the Summit to the spring starting in 2020. The Summit will also be held in the same city for at least 3 years starting in 2020.

There is a lot to unpack here, so let’s get to it.

2019 Open Hardware Summit in Shenzhen

At the end of the 2018 Summit OSHWA announced that it would be holding the 2019 Open Hardware Summit in Shenzhen, China.  Shenzhen has a vibrant local community of open source hardware enthusiasts. Many members of the OSHW community were also very excited for the opportunity to travel to a location that is so central to manufacturing innovation.

Unfortunately, in 2017 China implemented a law governing the activities of non-Chinese NGOs operating in China.  This law created a number of bureaucratic hurdles for organizations like OSHWA that were interested in holding events in China.

Among other things, the law requires OSHWA to find a local Chinese Partner Unit (CPU) willing to act as our sponsor for the Summit.  CPUs can only be certain types of organizations, such as universities or registered Chinese NGOs. Companies cannot serve as CPUs. The CPU must also be willing to undertake a significant number of bureaucratic steps to officially register the event and coordinate with local authorities.  In addition to the process required of the CPU, OSHWA itself would have to undertake a significant and burdensome number of steps to collect, verify, and provide paperwork to Chinese authorities (see this article “Reams of Paperwork: Preparing Documents to Get Official Status in China” and the checklist we prepared here for a sense of what is involved).

OSHWA has spent the last few months trying to identify a suitable CPU.  We have been unsuccessful, and do not have confidence that we will be successful in the future.  Furthermore, even if we were able to find a suitable CPU, OSHWA cannot justify the time and resources required to comply with the various filing requirements associated with the law.

As a result, OSHWA decided that it was better to cancel the 2019 Summit now, before speakers and attendees had made commitments and travel arrangements.

That being said, OSHWA is still committed to supporting the OSHW community.  That is why we are pairing this announcement with two additional announcements.

October as Open Hardware Month

OSHWA has traditionally supported October as Open Hardware Month.  Open Hardware Month is an opportunity for the community to hold local events, hackathons, and  documentation days as part of an international movement.

OSHWA wants to take this opportunity to expand Open Hardware Month events.  We will work to provide resources for the community to create to local events, aggregate information to make it easy to find events in your area (or know that you need to organize one), and collect stories, video, and images of the events as they occur.  These events will not be OSHWA run or carry the formal OSHWA name. We believe that Open Hardware Month will provide us an opportunity to shine a light on open source hardware events happening around the world. It will also provide an opportunity for local communities to raise their hand and be recognized by the global OSHWA community.  Please email info@oshwa.org to learn more and volunteer to be involved.

Spring Summit 2020

Cancelling the Shenzhen Summit and focusing on Open Hardware Month will also allow us to shift the Summit to the spring.  Over the years a number of Summit participants have told us that the spring is generally less crowded with events and obligations, so this shift should make it easier for more community members to attend.

Starting with the 2020 Summit OSHWA also intends to commit to a single US host city for at least three years.

For the past year the OSHWA board has been debating two alternative paths for the Summit.  The first path would continue the pattern of moving the Summit every year. The benefits of this path is that it allows the Summit to come to the many different communities that support OSHW.  The costs of this path are that it makes the Summit more expensive to operate because OSHWA needs to spend time and resources learning a new city every year. Switching cities also makes it hard to capitalize on the enthusiasm of local attendees in order to convert them into full community members.

Conversely, the alternative path is to commit to a single city for multiple years of the Summit.  The benefits of this path is that it allows OSHWA to run the Summit significantly more efficiently and makes it easier for community members to plan.  Holding the Summit in a single city allows OSHWA to grow the number of attendees by turning opportunistic local attendees into more permanent members of the community.   The cost of this path is that it prevents us from moving the Summit to all of the communities that support OSHW.

After significant discussion, OSHWA has decided to adopt the single city approach.  This decision was easier because we paired it with the expanded Open Hardware Month.  We believe that Open Hardware Month will help fill at least part of the gap created by a stationary Summit.

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While none of these decisions are being made lightly, OSHWA believes that combined they allow us to create a rhythm that is more supportive of the vibrant OSHW community.  Open Hardware Month in the fall will shine a spotlight on all of the local OSHW communities around the world. The Summit in the spring will provide those communities a single place to come together and meet in person.

As always, OSHWA exists because of its community and we want to hear from you.  Please let us know what you think in the comments below or in the forums.

OSHWA has just filed an amicus brief in a case regarding design patents. OSHWA urged the court to uphold a rule that a design patent covers only what the patent itself says it covers. This rule allows everyone to understand what is and is not protected by a design patent. A clear understanding of the scope of design patent protection is particularly important for open source hardware creators who share their design files for use and modification by others because they need to know when a patent would – and would not – apply to their design.

The Case

The case in U.S. court, called Curver Luxembourg SARL v. Home Expressions, Inc., is actually about furniture patterns. Curver applied for a design patent on a wicker pattern similar to one found in ancient Islamic designs. The pattern looks like this:

Design patents don’t protect abstract designs as represented in all things at all times. (Copyrights do that.) When you apply for a design patent you need to identify the “article of manufacture,” the actual thing that embodies the design. Curver initially failed to identify the thing that embodies the design, but eventually identified a “pattern for a chair.”

Curver’s designation of a “pattern for a chair” is important for what comes next. Another houseware manufacturer, Home Expressions, started selling a basket with a wicker pattern similar to Curver’s. Curver accused Home Expressions of infringing on Curver’s design patent. Curver believes that now that its patent for a “pattern for a chair” has been issued, the patent should be interpreted much more broadly to cover baskets, or any other object embodying the wicker design.

OSHWA’s Amicus Brief

From OSHWA’s standpoint, it does not really matter if the patterns on Curver’s and Home Expressions’ baskets are the same or not. What is important is that Curver’s patent is for the design embodied in chairs and baskets are not chairs (feel free to post your chair-basket venn diagrams in the comments). Curver should not be able to select arbitrarily or strategically the thing that embodies its design in order to get the patent, and then turn around and apply the patent well beyond the scope of that selection in the real world. Our brief asks the court to adopt a rule preventing that kind of behavior.

Regardless of what you think about the design patent system more broadly (and there are many opinions about it in the open source hardware community), the system can work only if patents give notice of what they cover. The “article of manufacture” (in this case, a chair) is essential to providing that notice because it shows how an otherwise abstract design applies to a particular object. It also places a reasonable limit on the scope of a design patent’s protection. Home Expressions should have been able to confidently ignore a chair-based patent in designing their basket.

The trial court agreed, and found for Home Expressions, but Curver has appealed the case. OSHWA has filed an amicus brief urging the appellate court to uphold the trial court. Our brief is in support of the rule that patents should be read to cover what they say they cover – and only what they say they cover.

This is important to the open source hardware community in at least two ways. First, creators cannot avoid infringing on existing patents if they do not have a way to understand what those patents do and do not cover. The patent system works only if people can figure out from patents themselves what those patents cover. This is important for maintaining a healthy environment for open source hardware creators to share design files with others without exposing themselves or other creators to unknown risks.

Second, some open source hardware creators rely on licenses to impose openness obligations on future users of their hardware. Those creators cannot understand when the openness obligations apply to future users or how far those obligations extend if they cannot understand when the design patents included in the license are being used.

Curver actually took the fairly unusual step of opposing our request to file our amicus brief. Fortunately, the court recognized that the open source hardware community could be impacted by the decision in this case and denied Curver’s attempt to keep us out.

OSHWA will continue to keep an eye on this case and provide updates as they develop. We would also like to say a big thank you to Kyle McLorg, George Laiolo, Erik Stallman, and Jennifer Urban at the Samuelson Law, Technology, & Public Policy Clinic at Berkeley Law for representing OSHWA in this case. They drafted the original brief, as well as the argument that convinced the court to accept it over Curver’s objections.