BattleCore Community Hardware License

This license (the “License”) governs use of the open hardware designs published by Irrelon Software Limited under the BattleCore brand, including but not limited to the schematics, PCB layouts, bills of materials, mechanical drawings, and accompanying hardware documentation (collectively, the “Designs”).

For the avoidance of doubt, the Designs do not include, and this License does not grant any rights in, the firmware, software, source code, object code, binaries, libraries, or other software components distributed with, intended to run on, or otherwise associated with the Designs (collectively, the “Firmware”). The Firmware is proprietary to Irrelon Software Limited, is licensed separately under its own terms, and is not made available under any open source or open hardware licence by virtue of this License.

By downloading, viewing, manufacturing, modifying, or distributing any of the Designs, you agree to be bound by the terms below. If you do not agree, do not use the Designs.

1. Summary

The Designs are intentionally permissive for building, studying, modifying, and operating. You can build them, modify them, and run a laser tag business with hardware made from them — provided the hardware remains visibly branded as BattleCore.

This License is copyleft: any modified or derivative version of the Designs remains subject to this License, and on request must be provided to Irrelon Software Limited, who is granted unrestricted rights to use it.

This License is not a commercial-sale licence. Under this License, you may not sell, resell, lease, hire-purchase, or otherwise distribute for value the hardware, manufactured boards, assemblies, kits, or any product containing or substantially derived from the Designs — whether the design is original, modified, rebranded, or embedded in a larger product. Operating a paid laser tag service is permitted; selling the equipment itself is not. Manufacturing the Designs for sale in any form requires a separate written commercial agreement with Irrelon Software Limited, granted at Irrelon’s sole discretion.

This summary is provided for convenience only and is not a substitute for the full terms below.

2. Permitted Uses

Subject to the conditions in Sections 4, 5, and 6, you are granted a worldwide, royalty-free, non-exclusive licence to use the Designs for the following purposes:

• Personal projects. Building, studying, modifying, and using hardware made from the Designs for personal, educational, hobbyist, research, or non-commercial purposes, including use with friends, family, in homes, in parks, and at non-paying community events.
• Commercial laser tag operation under the BattleCore brand. Using hardware made from the Designs to provide paid laser tag sessions, arena visits, mobile laser tag services, events, or similar activities where customers pay to play and do not acquire, rent-to-own, or otherwise take ownership of the hardware. The hardware must be clearly and visibly branded as a BattleCore device (see Section 4). This permission covers the provision of the service; it does not permit the sale of the hardware itself (see Section 3).
• Modification and contribution. Modifying the Designs and sharing those modifications with the BattleCore community, subject to the copyleft and grant-back terms of Section 5.

3. Prohibited Uses

The following uses are prohibited under this License under any circumstances. They are not permitted by any provision of this License and cannot be cured by attribution, branding, contribution, or any other act of compliance. They may be authorised only by a separate written commercial agreement with Irrelon Software Limited, executed in advance and granted at Irrelon’s sole discretion:

• Sale, resale, or distribution for value of the hardware. You may not sell, resell, lease, rent-to-own, hire-purchase, auction, trade for value, fulfil paid pre-orders of, or otherwise transfer for consideration any hardware, manufactured PCB, assembly, kit, sub-assembly, or finished product that is made from, contains, or is substantially derived from the Designs — whether the Designs are used in original, modified, partial, or combined form, and whether the hardware is branded as BattleCore or otherwise.
• Embedding the hardware in a product offered for sale. You may not incorporate hardware made from the Designs (in whole or in substantial part) into any larger device, kit, system, or product that is itself sold, leased, or otherwise distributed for value.
• Manufacturing for distribution. You may not manufacture hardware from the Designs in commercial quantities for the purpose of distribution to third parties, whether for value or otherwise, except as expressly permitted for non-commercial community sharing under Section 5.
• Rebranding, white-labelling, or competing products. You may not rebrand, remark, white-label, rebadge, or otherwise present the Designs — in whole or in part, modified or unmodified — under any product identity, brand, or trade dress other than BattleCore, nor incorporate substantial portions of the Designs into a competing product.
• Removing or obscuring attribution. You may not remove, obscure, alter, or replace BattleCore markings, silkscreen logos, copyright notices, or attribution on any manufactured board, assembly, or derivative work.
• Circumvention. You may not use any structure, agency, intermediary, sub-licensee, donation model, “cost-recovery” arrangement, crowdfunding tier, NFT, token, subscription, or other arrangement designed to achieve in substance the economic effect of a prohibited sale or distribution while avoiding its form.

For commercial licensing enquiries, please contact licensing@irrelon.com.

4. Branding Requirement

Where hardware manufactured from the Designs is used in a commercial context (including, but not limited to, paid laser tag sessions, rentals, or events), the hardware must be clearly and visibly branded as a BattleCore device. This means:

• The BattleCore name and/or logo must be visible to end users on the device or its enclosure in the ordinary course of use.
• BattleCore markings, silkscreen logos, copyright notices, and attribution on PCBs must not be removed, obscured, or altered.
• Any public-facing reference to the equipment (signage, marketing, booking pages, etc.) must not represent the equipment as being of a different brand or manufacturer.

Personal, hobbyist, and non-commercial users are encouraged but not required to retain BattleCore branding.

5. Derivative Works, Contributions, and Grant-Back

This License is a strong copyleft licence, modelled in spirit on the principles of the GNU General Public License but adapted for hardware and restricted as set out in Section 3. The following terms apply to any modification, adaptation, translation, port, fork, layout revision, schematic change, mechanical alteration, or other work based on or derived from the Designs (each a “Derivative Work”).

• Copyleft / share-alike. Every Derivative Work is and shall remain subject to this License (or a compatible successor version published by Irrelon Software Limited). You may not impose any additional terms, restrictions, fees, or technical measures on a Derivative Work that would limit a downstream recipient’s rights under this License.
• Source / design availability. Where you publish, deploy, distribute, or use a Derivative Work outside your immediate private use, you must make the corresponding design source files (schematics, PCB layouts, BoMs, mechanical files, and any changes to documentation) available, in editable form, to recipients of the Derivative Work and to other members of the BattleCore community on reasonable terms.
• Mandatory disclosure to Irrelon on request. Upon written request by Irrelon Software Limited, you shall promptly (and in any event within thirty (30) days) provide Irrelon with a complete copy of the Derivative Work, including all source design files, BoMs, change history, and accompanying documentation, in their original editable formats. This obligation applies whether the Derivative Work has been publicly distributed or not.
• Grant-back to Irrelon. By creating, using, publishing, or distributing a Derivative Work, or by contributing any change, modification, patch, improvement, design file, documentation, or other material to or based on the Designs (each a “Contribution”), you grant Irrelon Software Limited a perpetual, worldwide, irrevocable, royalty-free, fully paid-up, transferable, sublicensable (through multiple tiers) and unrestricted licence to use, reproduce, modify, adapt, prepare further derivative works of, distribute, publicly perform, publicly display, manufacture, have manufactured, sell, offer for sale, import, and otherwise exploit the Derivative Work and Contribution, in whole or in part, for any purpose and in any medium, including, without limitation, integration into proprietary or commercial products and offerings of Irrelon Software Limited. No further consent, attribution, accounting, or compensation shall be required from Irrelon Software Limited for any such use.
• Representations. You represent and warrant that you have the right to grant the foregoing rights with respect to each Contribution and Derivative Work, that your Contribution is your original work or you have the necessary rights to submit it, and that submission of the Contribution does not violate any agreement or third-party rights.

Nothing in this Section grants you any right to engage in any conduct prohibited by Section 3. In particular, the right to create and use Derivative Works does not include the right to sell or distribute for value any hardware embodying those Derivative Works.

6. General Conditions

• Attribution. You must retain copyright, licence, and attribution notices included with the Designs in any redistributed copies, Derivative Works, or documentation.
• No misrepresentation. You may not represent yourself as the original author, or as endorsed by, affiliated with, or sponsored by Irrelon Software Limited or the BattleCore project, without prior written permission.
• Compliance with law. All use must comply with applicable local, national, and international laws, including safety, radio, and electrical regulations.

7. Trademarks

This License grants rights to the Designs only. It does not grant any rights to the BattleCore or Irrelon names, logos, or other trademarks beyond what is necessary to comply with the branding requirements in Section 4. All other trademark use requires prior written permission.

8. Disclaimer of Warranty

The Designs are provided “AS IS”, without warranty of any kind, express or implied, including but not limited to the warranties of merchantability, fitness for a particular purpose, and non-infringement. You assume all risk associated with building, operating, or distributing hardware based on the Designs, including risks relating to safety, performance, and regulatory compliance.

9. Limitation of Liability

In no event shall Irrelon Software Limited be liable for any claim, damages, or other liability, whether in an action of contract, tort, or otherwise, arising from, out of, or in connection with the Designs or the use or other dealings in the Designs.

10. Termination

Any breach of this License — in particular the prohibitions in Section 3, the branding requirements in Section 4, or the copyleft and grant-back obligations in Section 5 — automatically terminates the rights granted under this License. The obligations in Section 5 with respect to Contributions and Derivative Works already created, and the disclaimers in Sections 8 and 9, survive termination. Rights may be reinstated at the sole discretion of Irrelon Software Limited upon cure of the breach.

11. Updates to this License

Irrelon Software Limited may publish revised versions of this License. Each version will be given a distinguishing version number. You may continue to use a previous version, or, at your option, use the Designs under the terms of any later version published by Irrelon Software Limited.

12. Governing Law

This License shall be governed by and construed in accordance with the laws of England and Wales, without regard to its conflict of law provisions.

13. Contact

See also our Terms of Service.