CERN Open Hardware Licence

Guide to the CERN OHL v.1.1

This document contains guidelines on how to apply the CERN OHL v.1.1

to a given hardware design, and on the use of hardware designs

licensed under the CERN OHL v.1.1.

How to apply the CERN OHL v.1.1 to a hardware design

Pre-requisite:

Authorship/ownership of the design must be clear and undisputed. Only

the legal owner of the rights in the hardware design may decide under

what conditions to make it available. If ownership is vested in more

than one person/entity, there must be an agreement among the owners to

release the hardware design as open hardware, and under the CERN OHL

in particular.

The hardware design documentation and files package

Pack all your hardware design documentation files (schematics,

layout...) as well as the documents listed below in an archive

file. This will ensure the licensee downloads everything in one go. It

is best to archive the files using a format everybody can

open. Schematics and layouts should be included in both source form

and a format readable by everybody, such as pdf.

The following documents must be distributed together with the hardware

design documentation:

Document containing the CERN OHL v.1.1 (e.g. LICENSE.PDF) 

This Guide

Text files (plain ASCII file), where information can be added to but

not removed from, listing:

    Contact point of any Licensor who wishes to receive modified

    Documentation (see section 3.3.d) (e.g. CONTRIB.TXT);

    Contact point wishing to receive information about manufactured

    Products (see section 4.2) (e.g. PRODUCT.TXT);

    Modifications made by Licensee (see section 3.3.b)

    (e.g. CHANGES.TXT)

What to do with the hardware design documentation

Include in the hardware design documentation, for instance as a

header, the following elements (see section 3.1 CERN OHL v.1.1):

a copyright notice reflecting actual ownership;

a notice that the hardware design documentation is licensed under the

CERN OHL v.1.1, possibly with a link to http://ohwr.org/cernohl where

the licence texts are hosted:

    “Licensed under CERN OHL v.1.1 or later”

    “Licensed under CERN OHL v.1.1”;

a disclaimer of warranties;

The following is an example of header if CERN is the Licensor:

Copyright CERN 2011.

This documentation describes Open Hardware and is licensed under the

CERN OHL v. 1.1.  You may redistribute and modify this documentation

under the terms of the CERN OHL v.1.1. (http://ohwr.org/cernohl). This

documentation is distributed WITHOUT ANY EXPRESS OR IMPLIED WARRANTY,

INCLUDING OF MERCHANTABILITY, SATISFACTORY QUALITY AND FITNESS FOR A

PARTICULAR PURPOSE. Please see the CERN OHL v.1.1 for applicable

conditions

Include on the silkscreen:

	the licence notice: “Licensed under CERN OHL v.1.1”

    	    Do not include the CERN logo or the copyright notice

How to deal with hardware designs licensed under the CERN OHL v.1.1

Generally speaking, you must always comply with any obligations

applying to a particular design (detailed in a contract or

accompanying licence). If you receive hardware designs licensed under

the CERN OHL v.1.0, the obligations are to:

Keep intact all the copyright and trademark notices that are on the

hardware design documentation;

Keep intact the references to the CERN OHL v.1.1;

Keep intact the disclaimer of warranties.

If you modify hardware design that you received from someone else that

is licensed under the CERN OHL v.1.1, you must

Keep intact all the notices referred to above;

Include notices that you have modified the hardware designs, detailing

what modifications where made (e.g. in a CHANGES.TXT file);

Add the appropriate copyright notice to the modifications that were

made;

license the modifications under the CERN OHL v.1.1 if you distribute

them.