Hardware should not be held hostage
About
Hardware should not be held hostage is the short form of a principle which might be stated more fully as:
The ability to use a piece of hardware should not be held hostage to licensing restrictions.
In other words: If a user owns a piece of hardware but is missing software which is necessary for the hardware to function as advertised, then the user should be allowed to use that software (and to copy it from any source available) without paying any additional licensing fees.
It is important to note that if the hardware is sold as having a particular feature, and the software is required in order to enable that feature, then the software (and a license to use it) should be included at no extra charge or else the seller is arguably engaging in deceptive advertising.
Possible Exceptions
Ease of Replication
An exception might arguably be made (allowing the licenser to prohibit copying) if the licenser provides sufficient technical details that a third party could reasonably create replacement software (sufficient to use enable advertised features of the hardware) without significant additional investment in development tools specialized for the hardware.
However, again, if the software is required for the product to function as advertised, then it should be available to all hardware owners with no additional licensing fees.
Different Software Packages
A reasonable argument might be made that it should be acceptable to require the user to buy separate software under certain circumstances, e.g. if the software comes with different levels of functionality at different prices -- but in that case, the hardware should be sold as "gizmo X which does very little unless you purchase software package A, B, or C".
Third Party Authorship
The product manufacturer might claim exemption from this principle if they are not the owner of the software copyright (e.g. it was written by a third party). Again, if the hardware was advertised as having features for which the software is required, then it remains the responsibility of the seller (be that manufacturer, software author, or another party) to make the software available to purchasers and owners of the hardware.
Related
This has a lot of overlap with the principle of hardware as license, but differs in that it has more to do with what the individual can do in order to be able to use their hardware.
Example
- Copyrighted firmware for a particular scanner series has been posted on HTYP under this principle, so that anyone who has the scanner but has lost their installation discs may still activate their scanner by downloading the firmware from HTYP and uploading it to their scanner.