18. Invention, intellectual property and income
Choosing my License & Dissemination
For my project I have chosen CC BY-NC:
Details:
Link to License
Why did I choose this license?
The purpose of my project was for me to learn, not to be a commercial product.
However I do want to keep the option open to make this into a real product.
That is why I am happy to release this version under CC BY-NC.
This means that others are free use my designs and files to make the project for themselves, but I retain the right to sell it commercially
I am happy for others to take the project further and refine the details that I could not get to in this spiral. For example the firmware would be much improved by a seasoned programmer.
How & Where can this product be sold?
So my current plan is to continue development before releasing anything for sale.
I would like to reach out to the Fablab Network and see if anyone would be interested in collaborating on the projects programming.
My thoughts on this are then to release the 3D print files and the basic code.
I will retain the designs for the moulds and then if If I decide to to a limited run of cast parts I can sell them via my business, Batch Size Zero.
Also I would need to decide with any future collaborator how they would want to share the code, although my preference is to release it on github or similar.
In this was people would be free to make there own device as a project but I could still sell the complete device myself if decided to.
What can be done with the Product Files?
All the files that I have created are hosted on this site and I am happy for others to make this project for themselves.
How can this product be improved / expanded upon from here?
I think the firmware is the biggest area that could be improved.
Right now it uses the circuit python HID library to send keystrokes and mouse moves to the PC but commercial products tend to use custom firmware that can speak directly to the programs. This allows the user to send inputs from the device while not disturbing the mouse pointer for example.