Please take the survey created by community member Malcolm Stanley to help OSHWA benefit you!
http://www.surveymonkey.com/s/6MRQQY9

An open letter to the open source hardware community from OSHWA, the Open Source Hardware Association, oshwa.org

The current leadership of the Open Source Initiative (OSI, opensource.org) has brought to our attention that they feel the Open Source Hardware ‘gear’ logo infringes on their trademark.

The open source hardware logo was chosen by the community and has become a de facto standard over the past year and a half. As the founding board members of OSHWA, we feel that it is not our right nor our place to decide this issue for the community without further input. This “founding” OSHWA board was elected by the OSHWA organizers simply to do the hard work of the bootstrapping the organization: to get a bank account, to fill out IRS paperwork, to clear other organizing hurdles, and (finally) to establish membership so that we can legally vote in board members by future membership. We had hoped and envisioned that any real business to serve the open source hardware community could wait after our organization was more firmly established.

We would like to work on behalf of the community. We have before us several options, and we are interested in your feedback:

1) License the open source hardware ‘gear’ logo from OSI.
US Trademark law requires OSI to protect their mark and to notify potential infringers when they become aware of them. OSI has indicated that they would grant a trademark license to OSHWA. This would give OSI the means to protect their trademark. However, accepting such a license would establish OSI as the owner of the crowdsourced ‘gear’ logo. It would make OSI responsible for deciding where and when the logo can be used, effectively giving OSI control of defining what can and cannot be labeled as open source hardware. It could also place OSHWA in the uncomfortable position of needing to enforce OSI trademarks. We are further concerned that future OSI boards may have different opinions concerning the use of their logo and license agreements.

2) Continue to recommend the use of the ‘gear’ logo against OSI’s wishes.
This may lead OSHWA to a legal battle before we even get off the ground. While it is theoretically possible that we could successfully argue against this in court, we do feel it would be wasteful to spend our limited resources and time “infighting” with one of the few other organizations that exists to serve the open source community. Nor do we wish to drive a wedge between ourselves and the OSI, who may be important allies in battles ahead.

3) Crowdsource a new logo to represent Open Source Hardware.
A change to our current logo must include removing the keyhole shape inside the gear as this is the problematic feature according to OSI’s lawyer.  But a new logo need not be similar at all.  In any case, OSHWA would begin to recommend the new logo in its list of best practices for labeling Open Source Hardware. The myriad products and projects with the original ‘gear’ marks could be revised over time.

We encourage you to leave your comments at the bottom of this post.

Update 1: Per request, here is the license from OSI, which has been brought up in the comments.

Update 2: Please voice your opinion by Aug. 16. OSHWA will reconvene to discuss these issues after that date.

Update 3: Thanks to everyone for their comments and especially to OSI for engaging with the open source hardware community. We are encouraged by the renewed dialog with OSI and we are going to take the conversation with them offline for the moment. We’re hopeful that the outcome will be an agreement that benefits the whole OSHW community. Thank you again for your help!     (Note Added Wednesday August 8)

Update 4: OSHWA and OSI are currently working together on a co-existence agreement. In the mean time, continue to build cool stuff and share it! Thanks to Jim Jagielski for sharing this link about co-existence agreements: http://www.wipo.int/wipo_magazine/en/2006/06/article_0007.html

Michael Weinberg is putting together an Open Hardware event in DC to introduce open source hardware to our congresspeople. The one-day event will be held on April 20th, 2012 at the Rayburn House Office Building Room 2322 in Washington DC. There will be two panels followed by demos. The event is free, though I’m sure Michael wouldn’t mind a donation or two to help out. Bring your project and yourself!

Check out more about the event on Public Knowledge’s Website.

The Open Source Hardware Association is Coming Soon! It will be a non-profit organization (status pending) working to spread the love of open source hardware. We’re working out details, and as soon as we know, you’ll know! Check back at oshwa.org for upcoming news.

In an effort to better understand the Open Source Hardware community, Catarina Mota lead our first project and created a survey along with David Mellis and John De Cristofaro. Please participate in this survey so that we can serve you to the best of our abilities. The aggregate and anonymous results will be made publicly available in May.

Please take the survey: http://www.surveymonkey.com/s/OSHW

Some proposed purposes this organization aims to do are as follows:
(1) Educate individuals and the general public about Open Source Hardware.
(2) Organize the Open Source Hardware movement around shared values and principles.
(3) Provide information and advice on best practices and standards for Open Source Hardware.
(4) Encourage collaborative learning, knowledge exchange, and social cohesion through conferences and other events focused on Open Source Hardware.
(5) Promote the use and development of Open Source Hardware, including to encourage educational and economic development.
(6) Collect, compile and publish data on the Open Source Hardware movement.
(7) Conduct any and all lawful activities which may be useful in accomplishing the foregoing purposes.