Open Source Hardware

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Challenges to the Patent System Dannie Jost World Trade Institute, University of Bern, Switzerland OPEN SOURCE HARDWARE Industrial Revolutions 19/09/2012 Dannie Jost #OKFest 1

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Open Knowledge Festival, Helsinki 19.9.2012

Transcript of Open Source Hardware

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Challenges to the Patent System

Dannie Jost World Trade Institute, University of Bern, Switzerland

OPEN SOURCE HARDWAREIndustrial Revolutions

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Question:

How many industrial revolutions does it take to change the way that our society understands and uses intellectual property?

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Why this, why now?

… we want to be able to break the constraints of the existing limitations in sharing knowledge and know-how… the pace of development is too slow… we want to tailor the technology… we want to own the technology that we use… we want to share… we want to learn

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OHANDA

Freedom 0: The freedom to use the device for any purpose.Freedom 1: The freedom to study how the device works and change it to make it to do what you wish. Access to the complete design is precondition to this.Freedom 2: Redistribute the device and/or design (remanufacture).Freedom 3: The freedom to improve the device and/or design, and release your improvements (and modified versions in general) to the public, so that the whole community benefits. Access to the complete design is precondition to this.

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four freedoms

• Goods• Capital• Services• People

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Marx & Engels

Indefeasible chartered freedom – free market

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the idea is…

to foster a community where those who benefit from the work of others in turn contribute their improvements to that community. (Ackerman, 2008)

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trends#1 makers and hackersCommons based peer production is emerging in the digitally networked environment (Benkler & Niessenbaum 2006)

#2 TRIPS + clauses (ACTA, TPP)

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paradigm shifts in the making

• Creation– from cloistered to ubiquitous

• Production– from centralized to distributed

• Organization of the collective– from static nation states to citizen’s interests

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dynamic frameworks

• Social & Political• Science & Technology• Legal• Economics (politics, organization, technology,

legal)

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industrial revolutions

#1 steam engine (James Watt 1736-1819)

#2 manufacturing, electricity generation

#3 candidates.integrated services and goods.additive manufacturing.makers.hackerspaces.low carbon…

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INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY RIGHTS (IPR)

• Objects– Patents (TRIPS 1994; EPC 1973, PCT 1970)– Trademarks– Copyright– Designs (Hague, legal texts)– Integrated Circuits (Washington Treaty, 1989)– Geographical Indications– Trade Secrets– Traditional Knowledge

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Photo: mprove

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… the Republic of Florence issued a patent in 1421 to the eminent architect and inventor, Filippo Brunelleschi, for his ship, which was designed to transport Carraran marble for his famous Duomo of Florence.

However the ship sunk, and with it the (first) Florentine patent system.

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Venice, 1474

“The Venetian Republic, on March 19, 1474, enacted the first known general patent statute, with overwhelming support in the Venetian legislature[39]. This statute, which sought to encourage technological advancement by issuing private grants and importation licenses, established a foundation for the world’s first patent system, leading one historian to proclaim that ‘the international patent experience of nearly 500 years has merely brought amendments or improvements upon the solid core established in Renaissance Venice’ “

Nard, Craig A, and Morriss, Andrew P. “Constitutionalizing Patents: From Venice to Philadelphia.” Review of Law & Economics 2, no. 2 (2006): 223-321.

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Venice, 1474

We have among us men of great genius, apt to invent and discover ingenious devices; and in view of the grandeur and virtue of our City, more such men come to us every day from divers parts.

preamble

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Statute of Monopolies, 1624

… any Declaration before-mentioned shall not extend to any Letters Patents and Grants of Privilege for the Term of fourteen Years or under, hereafter to be made, of the sole Working or Making of any manner of new Manufactures within this Realm, to the true and first Inventor and Inventors of such Manufactures, which others at the Time of Making such Letters Patents and Grants shall not use, so as also they be not contrary to the Law, nor mischievous to the State, by raising Prices of Commodities at home, or Hurt of Trade, or generally inconvenient ...

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US Constitution, 1787

Sec. 8The Congress shall have Power …To promote the progress of science and useful arts, by securing for limited times to authors and inventors the exclusive right to their respective writings and discoveries;

First Congress, Patent Act, 1790

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1883

• Paris Convention for the Protection of Industrial Property

• 174 Parties (Member States)• Article 4: [A to I. Patents, Utility Models,

Industrial Designs, Marks, Inventors’ Certificates: Right of Priority G. Division of the Application

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Fast Forward…

• 1947 GATT (1993) General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade

• 1994 GATT• 1995 WTO World Trade Organization– Uruguay Round 1986-1994– Trade Related Aspects of Intellectual Property

Rights

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TRIPS Article 27*

Patentable Subject Matter1. Subject to the provisions of paragraphs 2 and 3, patents shall be available for any inventions, whether products or processes, in all fields of technology, provided that they are new, involve an inventive step and are capable of industrial application.(5) Subject to paragraph 4 of Article 65, paragraph 8 of Article 70 and paragraph 3 of this Article, patents shall be available and patent rights enjoyable without discrimination as to the place of invention, the field of technology and whether products are imported or locally produced.* As of 10 May 2012, the WTO counted 155 Member States

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Possible Exclusions I2. Members may exclude from patentability inventions, the prevention within their territory of the commercial exploitation of which is necessary to protect ordre public or morality, including to protect human, animal or plant life or health or to avoid serious prejudice to the environment, provided that such exclusion is not made merely because the exploitation is prohibited by their law.

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…Optional Exclusions II3. Members may also exclude from patentability:(a) diagnostic, therapeutic and surgical methods for the treatment of humans or animals;(b) plants and animals other than micro-organisms, and essentially biological processes for the production of plants or animals other than non-biological and microbiological processes. However, Members shall provide for the protection of plant varieties either by patents or by an effective sui generis system or by any combination thereof. The provisions of this subparagraph shall be reviewed four years after the date of entry into force of the WTO Agreement.

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What is an invention?

EPC Article 52(2) recites what is not regarded as an invention:(a) discoveries, scientific theories and mathematical methods;(b) aesthetic creations;(c) schemes, rules and methods for performing mental acts, playing games or doing business, and programs for computers;(d) presentation of information.

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what have we learned from patent law history?

• It started with the renaissance guilds• It has not changed much since then• It is part of international economic law• It is based on the sovereignty of the nation state• It serves the interests of industrial production

entities• It creates repository of documents describing

technologies; public domain

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Is this the fear?

‘[open hardware designers] theoretically not have much legal recourse if their designs get patented, made/sold, or used in a closed system’ A Powell, Democratizing production through open source knowledge: from open software to open hardware, 34 Media, Culture & Society 691–708 (2012).

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You are free to…

• Put anything in the public domain..– Just publish it (defense publishing)• publication is not synonym with access• publication is the first step in access• access is the first step in share-alike

– IF YOU PUBLISH – like in make it public – YOU DESTROY THE NOVELTY OF ANY SUBSEQUENT ATTEMPT AT PATENTING ☞ STANDARD

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Of all the IPR objects, which ones can open hardware use?

• Trademarks• Expired patent specifications, unsuccessful

patent applications (public domain)• Copyright (License)

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Other Options

• Private Standard• Label

• Database• …• …• …

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YOUR QUESTIONS ARE WELCOME

Thank you! @danniehttp://about.me/danniejost

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