Drop the nice folks at CERN a line and ask them for a bit of advice. They have a CERN open source license that is for hardware and has been worked on. Combining the Apache 2.0 with a hardware version of the GPL - A.K.A. - CERN will likely allow you to monitize as you desire while keeping open source goals.
On Fri, Jan 4, 2013 at 11:50 AM, Timothy Normand Miller <[email protected]>wrote: > > > > On Thu, Jan 3, 2013 at 11:42 PM, John Culp <[email protected]>wrote: > >> Timothy, >> >> Can you even assign copyright for something you are doing _related_ to >> your probable research work at Binghamton? Even if you are working on this >> 100% in what you consider as your spare time, your employer may have claim >> to the work. >> > > I specifically grilled them about this and had the director of Technology > Transfer explain to me the boundaries carefully. If I'm not using any of > BU's resources, they don't lay any claim to it. And actually, it's not > really BU; it's the state of New York, since this is a state institution. > > Basically, if I'm doing this from home, using my own equipment, it's the > same as if I did outside consulting under the same terms. I DO need to > disclose potential conflicts of interest, and I have to keep some kind of > paper trail that shows that my contributions were published not using BU > resources. That's one of the reasons I want to post code to the list using > my gmail account. > > >> >> I only ask this as I remember the contracts I signed for my work here. >> >> You may have it in writing with your employer that you personally own the >> copyright and patentable ideas in all the future works that you create >> related to Open Graphics, and therefore can license it as you see fit, but >> perhaps you don't. >> > > There is also the issue of pre-existing IP we developed before I started > at BU and the fact that many people consider this to be public property. I > may be its legal owner, but morally, I'm just its guardian. I can't pocket > the money myself. My colleagues at BU understand this. > > >> >> Universities can be pretty funny when it comes to IP of any sort. IP >> created that is in any way related to any research that you are being paid >> to do would probably be in a dark grey area. I am assuming that you are a >> professional, not an hourly employee, and you may not actually have any >> official spare time when it comes to related work. >> > > One of the things I can do is rent office space there for $200/month, > which explicitly removes any conflicts of interest, state claims on IP, and > allows me access to BU resources, faculty, and staff. The instant that > this project has revenue potential, I'm going to enter into this > arrangement. Meanwhile, I really can't justify that expense. I'm just > going to keep clear separation. > > Worst case, if I screw something up badly enough, NYS will take 60% of our > revenue. > > >> >> Why don't you spend ~$1k and run your employment contracts by a lawyer >> specializing in such things (work for hire). I have been told that New >> York law is in general pretty funny compared to the other states; I don't >> know how that might effect you. >> > > Do you know how much I make? Let's just say that I took a big pay cut > when coming to BU, so this isn't an expense I can make right now. My > wife's opinion (who is a lawyer, BTW, licensed in Florida and Ohio, but not > specializing in IP law) is that I should bring this whole thing into BU and > let NYS own it (making it necessary for me to reject many outside > contributions) because it's better for my tenure application and doesn't > interfere with my ACADEMIC goals. This doesn't prevent me from releasing > it under GPL, but it does mean that NYS would take 60% of any revenue. > This would also make my life a lot easier for me, except for all the flak > I'd get from letting "the evil government" take a big chunk of money that > belongs to the project. > > SHOULD I let NYS own this? > > >> >> It may be that you need to run any license though whatever legal office >> exists at your university. For example: Wasn't the copyright of the X >> source originally held by MIT, but then licensed very permissively through >> the 'MIT X License'? >> > > I could probably license this under BSD or MIT, and no one in NYS would > raise an eyebrow. It it would prevent _us_ from getting any revenue; > meanwhile, Apple could plop it into the iPhone 12 and make billions. I > don't like that. I'm doing this for research purposes so that academics > can have an easier time developing new GPU-related techologies, not so that > some money-grubbing corporation can just lift our IP. This is why I want > to make use of copyright and even patent protection. If a commercial > entity wants to use that, that's great; we'll take a cut and use that to > further our FOSS and academic goals. > > Anyhow, basically, this whole mess comes about because I think it's > important that we control the revenue stream and make sure it's invested > properly and primarily in FOSS-related projects. > > > > Maybe I'm wrong to think that. > > > > >> >> IANAL (obviously) >> >> >> -John >> >> -- >> John R. Culp >> [email protected] >> >> ______________________________**_________________ >> Open-graphics mailing list >> [email protected] >> http://lists.duskglow.com/**mailman/listinfo/open-graphics<http://lists.duskglow.com/mailman/listinfo/open-graphics> >> List service provided by Duskglow Consulting, LLC (www.duskglow.com) >> > > > > -- > Timothy Normand Miller, PhD > Assistant Professor of Computer Science, Binghamton University > http://www.cs.binghamton.edu/~millerti/<http://www.cse.ohio-state.edu/~millerti> > Open Graphics Project > > _______________________________________________ > Open-graphics mailing list > [email protected] > http://lists.duskglow.com/mailman/listinfo/open-graphics > List service provided by Duskglow Consulting, LLC (www.duskglow.com) >
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