Commercial models
From Openmoko
OpenMoko is and should remain an open platform for enthusiasts to freely develop and aggregate features. However, being open and free does not necessarily mean there will be no profit generation models, as long as the participants agree to the principle of being open and free.
FIC DISCLAIMER: FIC, Inc., the owner of the OpenMoko® trademark, disclaims any authorization for you to freely use the trademark in conjunction with commercial applications (read the Trademark Policy). Using the OpenMoko trademark with open source software does not grant any rights in the mark to the user of the software.
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Why Commercial Models
The current list of "core members" of OpenMoko is funded by FIC, Inc., the sole owner of the OpenMoko trademark for any commercial use. If there are no additional commercial models that are compatible with open source and attractive to more third-party resources, the growth of the OpenMoko will be limited to the financial capacity of FIC alone.
Furthermore, by far people who need a secure financial source outnumber those who don't. Accepted financial models compatible with OpenMoko will help promote the platform to independent software vendors (ISVs) who have traditionally been the engine behind Microsoft's success. ISVs make money by developing commercial software that run on top of an operating system. Furthermore, we should welcome handset manufacturers in addition to FIC (see Supported Hardware) to provide phones that run OpenMoko in order for us to make a real impact. A profitable hardware business model compatible with open software will make their decisions easier.
The benefits of openly discussing commercial models taking advanage of OpenMoko is to prevent future conflicts when a participant wishes to develop a commercial application using our platform. As long as we allow this to happen and discuss the business openly here, we will be sure that no one market player may one day take advantage of our efforts without us knowing and allowing it.
Trademark License
It is worthwhile to note that FIC ("FIRST INTERNATIONAL COMPUTER, INC. CORPORATION") is currently the legal holder of the OpenMoko mark (USPTO #77013374 standard character mark). A trademark license fee may be collected by FIC when you use the OpenMoko word as a commercial mark.
This can be a real show-stopper for vast commercialization of our joint efforts here if FIC, Inc. cannot provide a clear license model for commercial usage of the mark. If FIC continues to be unclear about its logo license policy, a new open source operating system for the phone may outgrow OpenMoko by being commercial-friendly and provide more user-friendly features.
To avoid trademark limitations, the open community may choose to follow the steps of Microsoft facing Sun Micro's JavaScript® mark and named their implementation under the JScript® mark. Eventually Microsoft submitted the JavaScript standard for ECMA approval as the now open ECMAScript standard.
Compatible Commercial Models
For Patent Holders
It is easy for a person to file a patent on a software tool and then include the tool in OpenMoko for assessing a fee on each phone or software add-on sold. This is a business model compatible with GPL software prior to GPL version 3 (GPLv3). As of Sept. 3, 2007, OpenMoko code are licensed under GPL v2, so patents models are still compatible and allowed.
For ISVs
While OpenMoko is licensed under GPL/LGPL as free software, it does not prevent ISVs from developing proprietary, binary-only code that runs on OpenMoko as long as the code does not use any source code licensed under the free licenses. Using the GNU C library to build your software does not make your application program free. You are entitled to lock up and collect money for your non-free code that runs on OpenMoko.
For Mobile Operators
Mobile operators are allowed to offer mobile services that are 100% commercial and proprietary based on OpenMoko, as long as the enabling software are not touched by the free licenses.
For Hardware Manufacturers
Hardware manufacturers are not bound by the free licenses of OpenMoko and are fully allowed to build any hardware devices that run OpenMoko, as long as the software that glues the device to OpenMoko (e.g., kernel libraries, device drivers) are not touched by the free licenses.
This is the business model FIC, Inc. should fully focus on instead of clinging on to the trademark rights of OpenMoko. We hope to see this happen soon.
