Mission
Why we exist
OpenSourcePatents LLC — Open Source Patents, or OSP — is a New Hampshire software company. We build custom business tools for people the industry priced out, civic accountability platforms that make public records usable, and open inventions published free so nobody can lock them up.
Nobody should be priced out of their own tools.
Custom software starts around $15,000 and averages well over $100,000. Patents cost tens of thousands and lock an idea away for twenty years. Both systems work fine if you can afford them. Most people can’t.
We do two things about that.
The studio builds it cheap. Custom software from $1,000, with a ceiling set where the industry’s floor begins. Civic projects and nonprofits go lower, and a limited number each year go free.
The open source arm gives it away. Inventions, civic tools, and research published under open licenses — CC0, Apache 2.0, MIT, GPL-3.0, AGPL-3.0, and for a small number of works, CC BY-NC-ND 4.0. No royalty, no license fee, ever. Most of it you are free to copy, modify, and build on commercially; the NC-ND works are free to read and share, but not to sell or alter. Each project states its own license. We publish defensively so nobody else can lock these ideas up either.
Same principle both times: the work should exist, and it should reach the people who need it.
COUNTED FROM GITHUB.COM/OPENSOURCEPATENTS AND LIVE DEPLOYMENTS, 4 AUGUST 2026.
“No royalty or charge. Ever.”
The studio pays the bills. This arm is why it exists: civic tools, inventions, and research released in the open under CC0, Apache 2.0, MIT, GPL, and AGPL. Free to use, free to build on, free forever.
A few projects carry Creative Commons BY-NC-ND instead. Those stay free for anyone to read and use, but nobody gets to repackage them and sell them back to the public. Accountability tools should not become somebody’s product.
Why Open Source Patents?
The patent system was designed to promote innovation. Instead, it became a weapon. Patent trolls, defensive portfolios, and licensing wars have turned intellectual property into a barrier to progress. We believe the best ideas should be free — not because they are worthless, but because they are priceless.
How It Works
We research. We invent. We file. We release. Every concept in our portfolio is published under open licenses that guarantee permanent public access. No royalties. No licensing fees. No strings. If it can help humanity, it should belong to humanity.
Licensing
All civic tools are released under CC0 (public domain). All software is Apache 2.0. Patent concepts are published as defensive publications to prevent others from patenting them. This is irrevocable — once released, it can never be taken back.