The OpenChain Project featured prominently at this event held in China via a talk and participation in the end panel discussion on next steps in IPR around open hardware.

1. The OpenChain Project
Building Trust in the Supply Chain Since 2016

2. OpenChain Sponsors (Platinum Members)
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3. OpenChain ISO/IEC 5230:2020 is the International
Standard for open source license compliance.
It is simple, effective and suitable for companies of all
sizes in all markets.

4. This Works Company By Company

5. Result: Predictable B2B Compliance Activity

6. OpenChain ISO/IEC 5230:2020
or Equivalent Programs
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7. 7
Comprehensive Reference Material

8. 8

9. Community First

10. Everywhere!

11. Partner Program
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12. Global Third Party Certification (Mar 2019~)

13. Self-Certification
Independent Compliance Assessment
Third Party Certification
Freedom of Choice for Customers and Suppliers

14. This Approach Allows Collaborative, Effective License Management
● There are many open source software licenses
● Rather than addressing them one-by-one, we provide the process framework to
manage any open source software license
● The goal is to reduce errors, remediation and therefore resource cost
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15. How Does This Solve For All IPR Concerns?
● Open source software licenses generally have a bias towards copyright
● However, the majority of popular licenses also contain patent clauses
● This provides coverage across the two major areas of concern
● Keep in mind context:
○ Open source provides value through pooled resource application
○ This requires an equal playing field to ensure active participation
○ The base terms are the right for all parties to:
■ Use
■ Share
■ Study
■ Improve
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16. The Industry Needs To Maintain Collaboration
● Stakeholders have a strong incentive to promote rather than hinder sharing
● This spills over into motivation to resolve (or avoid) IPR concerns rather than
seek a confrontational stance
● And therefore the majority of outcomes are fixing problems before or after they
happen
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17. Does This Map Perfectly To Open Hardware?
● Open hardware is about designs that then provide core value in product sales
● This differs from the general approach of open source software, which is biased
towards collaboration on platform technologies but fierce competition around
product-level code
● The challenge for open hardware will probably be the deliniation from the
shared space motivation (such as CPU cores) and the moment of product
differentation (such as full SoC)
● This will probably lead to some conflict in the market until lines are drawn
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18. However… Open Hardware Can Learn From Open Source
● Establish the IPR boundaries between shared platform and product-level code
● Use licenses that provide extensive protection on the platform level
● Avoid “gotcha” issues such as patent exposure on the platforms
● Avoid fragmentation of platform development
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19. Community First
www.openchainproject.org