This document discusses intellectual property and sharing in the context of Fab Labs. It provides background on intellectual property concepts like patents, copyright, industrial design rights, and trade secrets. It then maps different types of creations like physical inventions, designs, software, and documentation to the relevant intellectual property protections. The document emphasizes that while intellectual property can be obtained, designs and processes developed in Fab Labs must remain available for individual use and learning according to the Fab Charter principle of secrecy. Sharing is still possible through private and educational use exceptions as well as inspiration.

1. Fab Lab,
Intellectual Property & Sharing
Peter Troxler
trox@fabfolk.com

2. Peter Troxler
• 2 years FabLab Amsterdam
– during this time also working with
Creative Commons Netherlands
• since 2009 freelance FabLab expert & coach
– community stewardship
– FabLab topics: business models, management,
documentation & sharing
– setting up Fab Labs: Switzerland (Luzern,
Zurich), Netherlands (Rotterdam), …

3. Intellectual Property
• the notion, that the results of intellectual
or creative work have the same (legal)
qualities as physical property
• this idea makes some sense with unique
artworks
• hard to understand why something that
can be copied without taking away the
original should be property

4. History of Patents
• Patents apparently existed in ancient Greece
• Monopolies, granted by the kings, e.g.
– 1105 Count William of Mortagne grants a patent to a Norman
abbot for erecting wind mills
– 1449 Henry VI grants a patent to John of Utynam for making
stained glass
• 15th century Venice: patents on glass-making, mainly to
control the trade
• 1624, UK: Statute of Monopolies – Parliament act against
monopolies granted by the Crown
= monopolies should be granted only for the introduction of
new manufactures to the inventor
• 1790 patent law in the US
• 1791 patent law in France

5. History of Copyright
• 15th century Europe: the printing press
• Crown & church felt a need to control printing –
license to print and trade books (i.e. censorship)
• England, 16th century: printers guild – Stationers’
company
• 1709 Statute of Anne An Act for the Encouragement
of Learning, by vesting the Copies of Printed Books
in the Authors or purchasers of such Copies, during
the Times therein mentioned
= trade regulation
– limiting the term of protection
– breaking up the monopoly of the Stationers’ Company:
copyright availability to anyone

6. Intellectual Property Protection
• protection of the commercial* interests of a
creator/inventor
• a monopoly to use the creation/invention
(thing) for commercial gain
• various types or protection, depending on
the type of thing
• some types arise automatically, some types
only on registration
* in some types and legislations also moral interests

7. Fab Charter
Secrecy: designs and processes developed in fab labs must remain
available for individual use although intellectual property can be
protected however you choose
• Sharing for individual use – learning
• This is provided for in some of the legal IP protection mechanisms
(privat use, educational “exception”, fair use

8. The Stuff We Make
What
type of thing
Things that
work
Ornamental
things
Beautiful
things
Electronic
cirquits
Code
(Software)
Documen-
tation

9. The Stuff We Make
What Legally
type of thing speaking
Things that inventions
work (technology)
Ornamental industrial
things designs
Beautiful works of art
things and literature
Electronic ? work of art
cirquits and literature
Code invention /
(Software) work of art
Documen- work of art
tation and literature

10. The Stuff We Make
What Legally Protection
type of thing speaking mechanism
Things that inventions Patent 1
work (technology)
Ornamental industrial Industrial
things designs design right 2
Beautiful works of art Copyright
things and literature
Electronic ? work of art Copyright
cirquits and literature
Code invention / Patent /
(Software) work of art Copyright
Documen- work of art Copyright
tation and literature
1 also: Utility model 2 Trademark: distinctive sign or indicator

11. Patent
• A patent consists of a set of exclusive rights granted by a sovereign
state to an inventor or their assignee for a limited period of time
in exchange for the public disclosure of an invention.
• The rights typically include the right to prevent others from
making, using, selling, or distributing the patented invention
without permission.
• A patent is granted upon application
• Typically a patent application must include one or more claims
defining the invention which must meet the relevant patentability
requirements such as novelty and non-obviousness.
• A patent lasts normally 20 years.

12. Industrial Design Right
• An Industrial Design Right protects the visual design of objects that
are not purely utilitarian.
An industrial design consists of the creation of a shape,
configuration or composition of pattern or color, or combination of
pattern and color in three dimensional form containing aesthetic
value. An industrial design can be a two- or three-dimensional
pattern used to produce a product, industrial commodity or
handicraft.
• The rights typically include the right to prevent others from
making, using, selling, or distributing the object without
permission.
• The Design Right protection is granted upon application – however
in the EU there is the Unregistered Design Right that automatically
gives protection of 3 year from the first disclosure of the design
• A design must be novel and have individual character
• Design rights last normally up to 25 years in 5 year periods (need
to be renewed)

13. Copyright
• Copyright gives the creator of an original work exclusive rights:
• Copyright it is "the right to copy", the right to determine who may
financially benefit from it, who may adapt the work to other
forms, who may perform the work (related rights); and it gives the
creator the right to be be credited for the work, not to have it
falsely attributed, and to not have their work used in a derogatory
or prejudicial manner (moral rights).
• Copyright arises automatically with the (physical) creation of the
work. In the US, copyright can be registered which gives additional
rights to recompensations in case of infringement
• Copyright is applicable to any expressible form of an idea or
information that is substantive and discrete. Some countries
require the notion of originality.
• A note on moral rights: those can not be traded.
• Copyright normally lasts 70 years post mortem auctoris

14. Utility Models
• A utility model is an intellectual property right to protect
inventions. This right is available in a number of many national
statutes. It is very similar to the patent, but usually has less
stringent patentability requirements.
• Petty patent (Indonesia), “poor man’s patent”
• Term often 6 to 15 years

15. Trademarks
• A trademark is the right to sue for unauthorized use of that
trademark
• A trademark requires registration (®) – but not in the US, there it
is sufficient to use it in trade, so there also exist unregistered
trademarks (™)
• A trademark is typically a name, word, phrase, logo, symbol,
design, image, or a combination of these elements. There is also a
range of non-conventional trademarks comprising marks which do
not fall into these standard categories, such as those based on
color, smell, or sound.
• The registration of a trademark can be revoked
• Trademark needs to be maintained (renewed), typically every 10
years, indefinitely

16. Integrated Circuit Topologies
• Because of the functional nature of the mask geometry, the
designs cannot be protected under copyright law (except perhaps
as decorative art).
• Because individual lithographic mask works are not clearly
protectable subject matter, they also cannot be effectively
protected under patent law.
• So since the 1990s, national governments have been granting
copyright-like intellectual property rights conferring time-limited
exclusivity to reproduction of a particular layout.
• Protection term is much shorter: 10…15 years
• Protection upon registration or first commercial use

17. Trade Secret
• A trade secret is a formula, practice, process, design, instrument,
pattern, or compilation of information which is not generally
known or reasonably ascertainable, by which a business can obtain
an economic advantage over competitors or customers. In some
jurisdictions, such secrets are referred to as "confidential
information" or "classified information".
• A company can protect its confidential information through non-
compete and non-disclosure contracts with its employees or
business partners.

18. The Stuff We Make
What Legally Protection What is still
type of thing speaking mechanism possible
Things that inventions Patent private use,
work (technology) research†
Ornamental industrial Industrial private use,
things designs design right inspiration
Beautiful works of art Copyright private use,
things and literature educational
Electronic ? work of art Copyright privat use,
cirquits and literature educational
Code invention / Patent / see above
(Software) work of art Copyright
Documen- work of art Copyright private use,
tation and literature educational
† WARNING: not in the US

19. The Stuff We Make
What Legally Protection What is still Sharing
type of thing speaking mechanism possible mechanism
Things that inventions Patent private use, Defensive
work (technology) research publication
Ornamental industrial Industrial private use, ?
things designs design right inspiration
Beautiful works of art Copyright private use, Creative
things and literature educational Commons
Electronic ? work of art Copyright privat use, Creative
cirquits and literature educational Commons
Code invention / Patent / see above FLOSS
(Software) work of art Copyright licenses
Documen- work of art Copyright private use, Creative
tation and literature educational Commons
† WARNING: not in the US

20. Defensive Publication
• A defensive publication, or defensive disclosure, is an intellectual
property strategy used to prevent another party from obtaining a
patent on a product, apparatus or method for instance.
• The strategy consists in disclosing an enabling description and/or
drawing of the product, apparatus or method so that it enters the
public domain and becomes prior art.
• Therefore, the defensive publication of perhaps otherwise
patentable information may work to defeat the novelty of a
subsequent patent application.
• Needs to be available to a “relevant audience” (e.g. conference,
trade journal)

21. Creative Commons
• A system of public licenses that grant reuse of copyrighted work
• The strategy is to use a publicly available, standardized license to
replace the normal contractual relationship between rights holder
and user.
• Rights holder can select, which restrictions s/he wants to add to
the general permission to use, distribute or perform the work
additionally to crediting the creator and mentioning the license
– Share-alike – user must re-license derivatives under the same license
– Non-commercial – use in connection with “making money” is not allowed (not
even fundraising for a charity or putting on a blog with Google Ads to cover
hosting costs)
– No derivatives – use only unaltered copies
• There are (up to now) national versions of the licenses – the idea
was to adapt the licenses to national legislation. This is probably
going to disappear
• Pay attention to compatibility issues when re-using material

22. FLOSS
• Free / Libre / Open Source Software
• Free Software
– Freedom 0: to run the program for any purpose
– Freedom 1: to study how the program works, and change it
– Freedom 2: to redistribute copies
– Freedom 3: to improve the program, and release modified versions
• Various licenses
– GPL
– LGPL
– BSD

23. The Stuff We Make
What Legally Protection What is still Sharing
type of thing speaking mechanism possible mechanism
Things that inventions Patent private use, Defensive
work (technology) research publication
Ornamental industrial Industrial private use, ?
things designs design right inspiration
Beautiful works of art Copyright private use, Creative
things and literature educational Commons
Electronic ? work of art Copyright privat use, Creative
cirquits and literature educational Commons
Code invention / Patent / see above FLOSS
(Software) work of art Copyright licenses
Documen- work of art Copyright private use, Creative
tation and literature educational Commons

24. Case FabFi
• open-source, FabLab-grown system to transmit wireless ethernet
signals across distances of up to several miles
• Documentation available at http://code.google.com/p/fabfi/wiki/
WikiHome?tm=6 under a Creative Commons by unported license,
3.0
• General project description available at http://fabfi.fablab.af/
under a Creative Commons by-sa license
• Uses various software components under various licenses, e.g.
Squid web caching is distributed under the GNU General Public
License (version 2), other licenses include the new BSD license
(SchoolNet parts) and the Apache 2.0 license (LuCId http slave)

25. Case Ultimaker
• Open Source, FabLab-grown 3D printer, based on the RepRap
• Documentation available at http://reprap.org/wiki/Ultimaker
%27s_v1.5.4_PCB and http://wiki.ultimaker.com/Main_Page under
the GNU Free Documentation License
• Lasercut drawings available at http://www.thingiverse.com/thing:
13571 under Creative Commons by-nc unported license ver. 3.0
• Note that the GNU FDL and CC-BY-NC are not compatible; GNU FDL
allows commercial reuse, GNU FDL requires preservation of
“Invariant Sections”.

26. Neil Gershenfeld
The bad news is that intellectual property
is no longer protectable.
The good news is that intellectual property
can still exist, but it will not be based on
control of scarce resources.
Companies will seek compensation by how
they add value, not on their control of IP.

27. Sources Used
• FabFi documentation
– http://fabfi.fablab.af
– http://code.google.com/p/fabfi/wiki
• Frumkin, M. (1945). The Origin of Patent Law. Journal of the Patent Office Society 27 (3) March 1945, 143-149. Available online:
http://www.compilerpress.ca/Library/Frumkin%20Origin%20of%20Patents%20JPOS%201945.htm
• Schlesinger, D. (2010). The Globalization of Science and Technology. Available at http://www.weforum.org/sessions/summary/
globalization-science-and-technology
• Ultimaker documentation:
– http://reprap.org/wiki/Ultimaker%27s_v1.5.4_PCB
– http://wiki.ultimaker.com/Main_Page
– http://www.thingiverse.com/thing:13571
• Wikipedia articles on the subjects (all under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License, http://creativecommons.org/
licenses/by-sa/3.0/):
– http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_patent_law
– http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_of_Utynam
– http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_copyright_law
– http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Statute_of_Anne
– http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Patent
– http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Industrial_design_rights
– http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Copyright
– http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Agreement_on_Trade-Related_Aspects_of_Intellectual_Property_Rights
– http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gebrauchsmuster
– http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Utility_model
– http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trademark
– http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trade_secret
– http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Integrated_circuit_layout_design_protection