The CERN Open Hardware Licence (OHL or CERN OHL) is a
license
A license (or licence) is an official permission or permit to do, use, or own something (as well as the document of that permission or permit).
A license is granted by a party (licensor) to another party (licensee) as an element of an agreeme ...
used in
open-source hardware
Open-source hardware (OSH) consists of physical artifacts of technology designed and offered by the open-design movement. Both free and open-source software (FOSS) and open-source hardware are created by this open-source culture movement and a ...
projects. It was created by
CERN, which published version 1.0 in March 2011. Version 1.1 was published in July 2011. Version 1.2 was published in September 2013. Version 2.0, which utilizes a simplified language and covers also
integrated circuit designs, was published in March 2020.
Wording
Contrary to most of license names, the CERN OHL uses the
British English
British English (BrE, en-GB, or BE) is, according to Lexico, Oxford Dictionaries, "English language, English as used in Great Britain, as distinct from that used elsewhere". More narrowly, it can refer specifically to the English language in ...
spelling
''licence'' rather than the
American English
American English, sometimes called United States English or U.S. English, is the set of varieties of the English language native to the United States. English is the most widely spoken language in the United States and in most circumstances ...
spelling
''license'' which contains an "s".
Projects using the CERN OHL

On the CERN OHL website they have a list of projects using their license. These projects include:
Most projects in the Open Hardware Repository OHR*
AXIOM
An axiom, postulate, or assumption is a statement that is taken to be true, to serve as a premise or starting point for further reasoning and arguments. The word comes from the Ancient Greek word (), meaning 'that which is thought worthy o ...
–
digital cinema camera
Gizmo For You LtdMechanical Ventilator MilanoRapid production ventilator design as an answer to COVID-19 shortage
The Monero Hardware WalletThe first (licensed schematic and layout) Monero hardware wallet
*
Mycroft Mark I – smart speaker with open-source digital assistant (design files availabl
here
* ScopeFun open source oscilloscope
SimpleMachines*
SatNOGS
SatNOGS (Satellite Networked Open Ground Station) project is a free software and open source hardware platform aimed to create a satellite ground station network. The scope of the project is to create a full stack of open technologies based on open ...
-the open satellite ground station network
* The
synchrotron
A synchrotron is a particular type of cyclic particle accelerator, descended from the cyclotron, in which the accelerating particle beam travels around a fixed closed-loop path. The magnetic field which bends the particle beam into its closed p ...
instrumentatio
PandAboxwhich chorographs experiments at particle accelerator and other facilities
*
Tinkerforge Bricks and Bricklets
* The
tristimulus colorimeterbr>
Colorhug2 uses version 1.1 of this license.
*
UPSat-the first open hardware satellite 1
* A
Free Beer
Opay Beer, originally known as Vores øl - An open source beer (English: ''Our Beer''), is a brand of beer and the first with an "open"/"free" brand and recipe. The recipe and trademark elements are published under the Creative Commons CC ...
variation, brewed for the
RMLL 2012 and
recipe
A recipe is a set of instructions that describes how to prepare or make something, especially a dish of prepared food. A sub-recipe or subrecipe is a recipe for an ingredient that will be called for in the instructions for the main recipe.
Hist ...
placed under the CERN OHL 1.1
OpenScoutan open source hardware mobile robot
Reception
The CERN OHL is an accepted
free content license according to the
Free Cultural Works definition
and version 2 is approved by the
Open Source Initiative
The Open Source Initiative (OSI) is the steward of the Open Source Definition, the set of rules that define open source software. It is a California public-benefit nonprofit corporation, with 501(c)(3) tax-exempt status.
The organization w ...
.
See also
*
Open-source hardware
Open-source hardware (OSH) consists of physical artifacts of technology designed and offered by the open-design movement. Both free and open-source software (FOSS) and open-source hardware are created by this open-source culture movement and a ...
*
Open content
References
External links
CERN Open Hardware Licence
{{CERN
Open hardware licenses
CERN