Open Compute Project Hardware License (Permissive)
Version 1.0
This license is intended to promote the adoption of technology specifications for computer
hardware products. This license covers the use, copying, modification and distribution of
hardware specifications, and the manufacture, use, sale and import of products based on such
specifications. Specifications are copyrightable works, and therefore must be used under a
copyright license. Specifications also may describe features or functionality whose
implementation embodies patentable inventions, and therefore, if patents read on those
inventions, products that implement a specification must be made, used, sold or imported under a
license to any patents that are necessary to implement those features or functionality.
1. Definitions. As used in this License, the following terms have the following meanings.
?Complete Production Files? means all of the following, in a form sufficient for a person of
ordinary skill to manufacture or modify the design of the Product:
(1) materials detailing electrical design and composition, including (a) a full CADgenerated
system schematic; (b) a full CAD-generated system board layout, including timing
constraints and stack-up definition; (c) a full system component bill of materials in a text format
(tab-delimited or comma-delimited), including reference designators (e.g., part numbers on the
board), manufacturers, manufacturer part numbers, and quantities; (d) manufacturing files,
including (i) printed circuit board (PCB) manufacturing files in RS-274x or other open format,
(ii) stack-up information in text format, or as an art layer in the RS-274x files, or in a separate
file, and (iii) component pick-and-place coordinates in text format and test point coordinates and
information in text format; (e) a schematic board component placement map;
(2) materials detailing mechanical design and structure, including a three-dimensional
CAD-generated drawing of the top level assembly, housing, and all parts and subparts in a CADneutral
format such as STEP or IGES;
(3) all firmware, tools, and drivers, in binary form, that are required to boot and operate
the product within the definition of the Specification and are compatible with at least one major
freely or commercially available operating system such as Linux or Windows, including
corresponding source code or control interfaces to the extent necessary to enable electrical or
mechanical modifications of the hardware design, such as pin reassignment; and
(4) a copy of the Specification.
All materials must be in a machine-readable file format that is (a) based on an open
standard or for which a free decoder is widely available without charge; or (b) for CADgenerated
system electrical schematics and layout, and mechanical 3D design only, in a form that
is commonly in use in the industry and generally commercially available.
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?Compliant Products? shall mean the hardware products designed or manufactured fully in
accordance with the Initial Specification, excluding any Elective Elements of such hardware
products.
?Elective Elements? means features, functionality, or elements that are not required by the Initial
Specification including, but not limited to, features, functionality, and elements that are
designated in the Initial Specification as references only or as non-mandatory.
?Improvement? means (a) any derivative work of a Specification, and (b) any modification,
extension, or improvement of the functionality described in a Specification that, in the case of (a)
or (b), You make available pursuant to the licenses granted herein, or that You use to design or
manufacture Your Product.
?Initial Specification? means the version of the Specification that is adopted by the Initial
Licensors as described in Section 2.
?License? means the terms and conditions for use, reproduction, and distribution set forth in this
document.
?Initial Licensor? means any party that has agreed to adopt the Initial Specification and thereby
grant the rights granted in Section 2.
?Licensor? means each Initial Licensor, and any other party that has granted rights to Your under
this License as set forth in Section 4 or 6.
?Necessary Claims? means any patent claims owned, assigned to, controlled, or licensable by a
party that are necessarily infringed by implementing the applicable version of the Specification,
where necessarily means there is no commercially reasonable alternative non-infringing way of
implementing the applicable version of the Specification. Necessary Claims for the Initial
Specification do not include any claims that would not be infringed but for the implementation of
Elective Elements.
?Product? means any Compliant Products, or any of Your Products, as applicable.
?Specification? means the Initial Specification adopted and promulgated by the Initial Licensors
(as described in Section 2), or any of Your Versions of the Specification distributed by You or
used by You to design or manufacture Your Product under the licenses granted to You herein.
?You? means an individual or legal entity exercising the permissions granted by this License.
?Your Products? means hardware products designed or manufactured by You that would, but for
the licenses granted herein, infringe any Necessary Claim.
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?Your Version? of a Specification means any version of the Specification that is used by You to
design or manufacture the Your Products. For clarity, Your Version does not include any
changes or additions made by any party who receives the Specification from you or any of your
recipients (including via multiple levels of recipients).
2. Scope of Initial License. This License applies to Initial Specifications that have been
adopted and promulgated by the Initial Licensors, by publicly stating that they have agreed to
make the Initial Specification available under the terms of this License.
3. Grant of Copyright License to the Initial Specification. Subject to the conditions of
Section 7, each Initial Licensor hereby grants to You a perpetual, worldwide, non-exclusive,
fully paid-up, royalty-free, irrevocable copyright license to use, reproduce, publicly display, and
publicly perform the Initial Specification, and to modify and prepare derivative works of the
Initial Specification.
4. Grant of Copyright License to Your Improvements of Specification. For any
Improvements you elect to make available under this License, You hereby grant to all recipients
of any such Improvement the right to use, reproduce, publicly display, and publicly perform such
Specification, and to modify and prepare derivative works of such Specification.
5. Grant of Patent License to You for Initial Specification. Subject to the conditions of
Section 7, each Initial Licensor hereby grants to You a perpetual, worldwide, non-exclusive,
fully paid-up, royalty-free, irrevocable (except as stated in this Section 5) patent license to make,
have made, use, offer to sell, sell, import, and otherwise transfer Compliant Products, under all
Necessary Claims of such Initial Licensor. If You bring an action (including a cross-claim or
counterclaim in a lawsuit) against any entity alleging that any Product or the use thereof directly
or contributorily infringes any patent, then any licenses granted to You under this License
(including copyright and patent licenses) will terminate as of the date such action is brought.
6. Grantback of Patent License from You. For any Improvements you elect to make available
under this License, You hereby grant to all recipients of the Specification a perpetual,
worldwide, non-exclusive, fully paid-up, royalty-free, irrevocable (except as stated in this
Section 6) patent license to make, have made, use, offer to sell, sell, import, and otherwise
transfer Products, under all of Your Necessary Claims. If any party brings an action (including a
cross-claim or counterclaim in a lawsuit) against any entity (including You) alleging that any
Product or the use thereof directly or contributorily infringes any patent, then any licenses
granted to such party under this License (including copyright and patent licenses) will terminate
as of the date such action is brought.
7. Distribution of Products. You may, but are not required to, make your Improvements
available under this License. If you choose to make your Improvements available under this
License, You must include with each such Improvement (1) full and complete copies of all
Complete Production Files, and (2) a copy of this License.
(a) Delivery of Complete Production Files. Delivery of Complete Production Files as
set forth in this Section 7 may only be fulfilled by (1) bundling, with the Product, a tangible
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medium on which copies of the Complete Production Files are saved, or (2) specifying, in
documentation accompanying the Product, a location on the Internet that is publicly accessible,
from which copies of the Complete Production Files may be downloaded without charge.
(b) Delivery of a Copy of This License. Delivery of this License as set forth in this
Section 7 may only be fulfilled by (1) including a paper copy of this License in the
documentation accompanying the Product; (2) including an electronic copy of this License with
the Complete Production Files in a file format that is based on an open standard or for which a
free decoder is widely available without charge; or (3) specifying, in documentation
accompanying the Product, a location at which this License may be viewed or downloaded, such
as the following: ?The specifications for this product are available under the Open Compute
Project License version [__], available at [insert Internet link].?
8. Limitations. This License does not grant permission to use the trade names, trademarks,
service marks, or product names of any Licensor. However, this License does not limit any right
You may have to do so absent a license. Except for the rights expressly granted in this License,
no rights are granted under this License by estoppel, implication, or otherwise.
9. Disclaimer of Warranty. The Specification is provided hereunder on an ?AS IS? BASIS,
WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY KIND, either express or implied,
including, without limitation, any warranties or conditions of TITLE, NON-INFRINGEMENT,
MERCHANTABILITY, or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE. You are solely
responsible for determining the appropriateness of using the Specification and assume any risks
associated with Your exercise of permissions under this License.
10. Limitation of Liability. In no event and under no legal theory, whether in tort (including
negligence), contract, or otherwise, unless required by applicable law (such as deliberate and
grossly negligent acts) or agreed to in writing, shall any Licensor be liable to You for damages,
including any direct, indirect, special, incidental, or consequential damages of any character
arising as a result of this License or out of the use or inability to use the Specification (including
but not limited to damages for loss of goodwill, work stoppage, computer failure or malfunction,
or any and all other commercial damages or losses), even if the Licensor has been advised of the
possibility of such damages.
11. Accepting Warranty or Additional Liability. While selling, offering for sale, or otherwise
distributing Products, You may choose to offer, and charge a fee for, acceptance of support,
warranty, indemnity, or other liability obligations and/or rights consistent with this License.
However, in accepting such obligations, You may act only on Your own behalf and on Your sole
responsibility, not on behalf of the Licensor, and only if You agree to indemnify, defend, and
hold the Licensor harmless for any liability incurred by, or claims asserted against, the Licensor
by reason of Your accepting any such warranty or additional liability.
12. Termination. The rights granted to You under this License will terminate automatically if
You fail to comply with any of its terms or conditions. However, if You become compliant, then
the rights granted under this License from a particular Licensor will be reinstated (a)
provisionally, unless and until such Licensor expressly terminates Your rights under this License,
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and (b) permanently, if such Licensor fails to notify You of the non-compliance by some
reasonable means prior to 60 days after You have come back into compliance. Moreover, Your
grants from a particular Licensor will be reinstated permanently if such Licensor notifies You of
the non-compliance by some reasonable means, this is the first time You have received notice of
non-compliance with this License from such Licensor, and You become compliant prior to 30
days after Your receipt of the notice. For clarity, the above opportunity for cure will not apply to,
and will not limit any termination of rights under, the final sentence of Section 5.
13. Use of this License. You may use this License for Your own specifications; however, if You
do so, You must change the name of Your license, refer appropriately to Yourself as the Initial
Licensor, and You must not use the name or trademarks of Open Compute Project Foundation,
except You may state that Your license is based on the Open Compute Project Hardware
License.
14. Revised Versions of this License. The Open Compute Project Foundation may publish new
versions of this License from time to time. Such new versions will be similar in spirit to this
version. Each version will be designated with a version number. If the Specification specifies
that a certain numbered version of this License ?or any later version? applies to it, You have the
option of following the terms and conditions either of such numbered version or of any later
version published by the Open Compute Project Foundation. If the Specification does not specify
a version number of this License, You may choose any version ever published by the Open
Compute Project Foundation. However, no additional obligations are imposed on any Licensor
as a result of Your choosing to follow a later version.
