# Licensing

This project is under **two** licences, because it has to be.

| Path | Licence |
|---|---|
| `Schematics/`, `Documents/`, `README.md` | **CC BY-NC-SA 4.0** — [`LICENSES/CC-BY-NC-SA-4.0.txt`](LICENSES/CC-BY-NC-SA-4.0.txt) |
| `Firmware/` | **GPL-2.0-or-later** — [`LICENSES/GPL-2.0.txt`](LICENSES/GPL-2.0.txt) |
| `Documents/*.PDF` | Third-party vendor datasheets. Not mine to license. |

## The hardware: CC BY-NC-SA 4.0

Build one, change it, share what you change — but don't sell it.

- **BY** — credit the original.
- **NC** — no commercial use.
- **SA** — derivatives must carry this same licence.

### Two things to be clear about

**This is not "open source" or "open hardware" by the formal definitions.** Both
the OSI and OSHWA definitions require permitting commercial use, so a
NonCommercial term disqualifies it. That is a deliberate choice here, not an
oversight — but it means OSHWA will not certify it, some people will decline to
contribute on principle, and it cannot be called open source without being
wrong.

**"NonCommercial" is genuinely fuzzy.** Creative Commons defines it as use "not
primarily intended for or directed toward commercial advantage or monetary
compensation." That leaves real ambiguity: a fab house charging to make you a
board is fine, a company using it internally is arguable, someone selling
assembled units is not. Enforcement is on the copyright holder.

## The firmware: GPL-2.0, and it cannot be otherwise

Anything derived from QMK is GPL-2.0, and **the GPL explicitly permits
commercial use**. A NonCommercial restriction cannot be added to GPL-derived
code — doing so would violate the GPL and make the result undistributable.

So the firmware in this repo is GPL-2.0-or-later. Someone may legally sell
firmware derived from it. That is not a gap in the licensing; it is the price of
building on QMK, and there is no version of this project where it isn't true.

The hardware restriction still stands on its own: the thing you would need to
*build and sell* is the board, and that is NC.