Selling a board archive
Selling PCB design files: ownership, client work and buyers
A buyer that wants board files asks first whether each project is yours to license. Here is what the tools' terms, the one public PCB request and the buyer board say.
Ask about my PCB archive Most of the PCB vendors we read say the designs stay yours, but 7 keep a right over aggregated data. Tell us which tools your projects sit in and we will write back about them.
Which projects count as yours
The one public request we read for PCB archives asked for projects that are the seller's own original work, and ruled out client-confidential, NDA-protected or third-party owned designs, as well as anything taken from open-source libraries or GitHub.
Source: Freelancer, PCB Archives Licensing for AI Training
What the design tools say about ownership
14 of the 23 vendors on our board state that what customers upload stays theirs. Altium's general terms say you own all data you submit and store with it, Autodesk's that you retain ownership of the files and designs you create, and EasyEDA's that the rights in projects you upload are owned by you.
Source: EDA, part library and PCB fab terms, vendor by vendor
Who takes the files
On the buyer board, 4 of the 10 organizations on the table license data from the businesses that own it, another 4 run marketplaces where owners list data, and 2 name PCB or electronics design files.
Source: Who takes PCB and electronics design data for AI training