Hello,
I am Dr. John Wason, the developer of an open-source communication
library for robotics and automation named Robot Raconteur
(http://robotraconteur.net). I am looking for advice in licensing this
product. I began developing Robot Raconteur as part of my doctoral
research and am continuing its development as part of my company Wason
Technology, LLC. Robot Raconteur is a binary communication
specification combined with a set of software libraries for different
languages and platforms. I have been releasing the source code as LGPL
code. I'd like to change the terms for commercial products that utilize
the protocol so that rather than protecting the code I am protecting the
protocol specification. The goals for this license are as follows:
1. Prevent fragmentation and ensure maximum interoperability
2. Prevent forking (the Microsoft steal-and-tweak)
3. Encourage maximum adoption
4. Generate revenue for Wason Technology, LLC to fund continuing development
Based on these goals, I have come up with the following (plain English)
terms:
1. Free for academic and research use
2. Commercial products may use the protocol but must state prominently
that it uses Robot Raconteur. The free commercial tier will have a
"Robot Raconteur Community" logo and be provided without warranty. A
certified tier will be available as a commercial service.
3. Commercial products on the free tier may only use unmodified official
libraries provided by Wason Technology, LLC
4. Commercial products on the free tier may only use officially supplied
channels (ie TCP, Serial). Companies may not sell alternative channels
without license.
5. Libraries that implement the protocol must state prominently that
they use Robot Raconteur
I am aware that these terms are hard to enforce, however I think most
companies will pay for having a warranty on the code. Most of the
devices running Robot Raconteur will be embedded, and the mindset is
very different for these devices due to the difficulty in fixing bugs
once they are deployed.
Any advice that opensource.org can provide in developing the licensing
terms is greatly appreciated. As stated in the objective, the goal is
not to limit the free use of the software but instead to prevent
fragmentation and provide a path for revenue generation from commercial
products.
Thanks!
-Dr. Wason
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