For our second meeting we've presentations from Andrew Katz on licensing Open Source Hardware projects and a representative from Pay It Forward on Altruistic 3D printing using RepRap.

Free and open source software is mainstream. Free and open hardware isn't.

Andrew is increasingly involved in open hardware, and considers what, if anything, is different about hardware which makes open projects a challenge, and whether it is possible to construct a licence, like the GPL, which has a copyleft element applicable to hardware.

Andrew Katz is a partner at Moorcrofts LLP, a boutique law firm in England's Thames Valley and advises a wide range of businesses on free and open source related issues. He has lectured and published widely on the subject and is a founder editor of the International Free and Open Source Software Law Review. Before becoming a solicitor, he trained as a barrister, and moonlighted as a programmer during his studies at Bar School, programming in Turbo Pascal. He has released software under the GPL.

Pay It Forward — Alturistic 3D Printing

Pay It Forward is a movement to bootstrap the thingiverse using RepStrap machines to print parts to help other people get started with RepRap machines.