Plan for Dissemination
I am not planning on commercilizing the project and it was created just for the learning purposes. The idea of the shower timer can be promoted in the Fab Lab community to enhance the device, developed it further and enocurage its use. Perphaps it will spark the interest of Fab Labs in creating other devices for fostering sustainable behaviors.
Considering this, I am choosing Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 (CC BY 4.0) license for my project. Full legal text of therms and conditions of the license can be found at https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/legalcode. This licence provisions that if anyone wants to use the material my project provides, s/he can:
- Share — copy and redistribute the material in any medium or format
- Adapt — remix, transform, and build upon the material for any purpose, even commercially.
The licence also provisions that the person using materials provided by me should attribute by giving appropriate credit, providing a link to the license, and indicating if changes were made. It can be done in any reasonable manner, but not in any way that suggests the licensor (myself) endorses the person using the materials or his/her use. Furthermore, no additional restrictions ahould be applied. The person using matereials should not apply legal terms or technological measures that legally restrict others from doing anything the license permits.
The Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 (CC BY 4.0) license license is acceptable for Free Cultural Works, defined here http://freedomdefined.org/Definition. The definition states that in order to be considered free, a work must be covered by a Free Culture License, or its legal status must provide the essential freedoms (use and perform the work, study the work and apply the information, redistribute copies, distribute derivative works). Additionally, to be considered free the work has to: provide source data, use a free format, be unrestricted techinically and unlimited in othe ways.
Also it was interesting to find out about exsistence of the fab licence. Its text can be found here: http://academy.cba.mit.edu/classes/invention_IP_business/license.txt. The conditions state that works covered with this licence may be reproduced, modified, distributed, performed, and displayed for any purpose, but must acknowledge "project name". Copyright is retained and must be preserved. The licence also notes that 'fab' works are provided as they are; no warranty is provided, and users accept all liability.
Finally, this week was a good opportunity to refresh memories on what patents, trademarks, and copyrights are and how they differ. The online resources of the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO)'s provide useful inmormation regarding these resources and their proper use.
Trademark is a word, phrase, symbol, and/or design that identifies and distinguishes the source of the goods of one party from those of others. Unlike patents and copyrights, trademarks do not expire after a set term of years. Trademark rights come from actual “use”. Therefore, a trademark can last forever - so long as the owner continues to use the mark in commerce to indicate the source of goods and service.
Patent is a limited duration property right relating to an invention, granted by the United States Patent and Trademark Office in exchange for public disclosure of the invention. Patentable materials include machines, manufactured articles, industrial processes, and chemical compositions. The duration of patent protection depends on the type of patent granted.
- Design Patents - 15 years from issuance (for applications filed on or after May 13, 2015 and 14 years from issuance if filed before May 13, 2015).
- Utility Patents - 20 years from the date on which the application for the patent was filed in the United States. (Special cases: from the date an earlier related application was filed).
- Plant Patents - same as Utility Patents.
Copyright protects original works of authorship including literary, dramatic, musical, and artistic works, such as poetry, novels, movies, songs, computer software, and architecture. The duration of copyright protection depends on several factors.
- For works created by an individual, protection lasts for the life of the author, plus 70 years.
- For works created anonymously, pseudonymously, and for hire, protection lasts 95 years from the date of publication or 120 years from the date of creation, whichever is shorter.
Future Development of the Project
There are several possibilities for enhancing the current project. One of the most necessary advancements is reducing anount of hardware used. It could be achieved with improving networking (using I2C or wireless) or even making one board with a different microcontroller, for example, ATMEGA328P-AU-ND. The device could be enhanced to let the user choose among several option for setting the time when the buzzer goes off (3, 5, and 10 minutes, for example). It would also be nice to set up a web or a mobile application to complement the device and help the user track the history of the water-saving habits over time.