Hello Robert,
A nice project and use. I like Mark, had to read up a bit about the history & use of such a product and resulting solution.
May I suggest if you want to protect your intellectual property(IP), that you do not release the pcb gerber fab data, only offer pre-manufactured pcb's. This does not prevent someone from duplicating your design, but at least it does not make it so easy to do. I understand that you yourself use a cnc to create a pcb, for your reasons of not using chemicals to etch the copper but you will not be able to have this control anymore, if you release the pcb fab files.
Also, it is honourable to release the source code as well, but doing so will also not protect your IP rights either. The only reason I can see you releasing the source code, is for educational purposes and the possibility of other's to contribute/enhance your code. If you want to protect your software IP, then I suggest to only release the hex file.
I hope this note at least gives you some perspective as far as preserving your IP and hard work.
Cheers
Rick Savas
↧