This document explains the basic concepts related to software and hardware licenses, and it summarizes the most popular licenses that are currently used for hardware projects. Two case studies of hardware projects at different levels of abstraction are also presented, together with a discussion of license applicability, commercial issues, code protection, and related concerns. This paper intends to help the reader understand how to release open hardware with the most appropriate license, and to answer questions that are of current interest. We have been mainly motivated by the growing influence of the open RISC-V ISA, but trying to address a wider hardware point of view.

中文翻译：

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关于 [Open] 硬件的许可证

本文档解释了与软件和硬件许可证相关的基本概念，并总结了当前用于硬件项目的最流行的许可证。还介绍了不同抽象级别的硬件项目的两个案例研究，并讨论了许可证适用性、商业问题、代码保护和相关问题。本文旨在帮助读者了解如何使用最合适的许可证发布开放硬件，并回答当前感兴趣的问题。我们主要受到开放 RISC-V ISA 日益增长的影响力的推动，但试图从更广泛的硬件角度解决问题。