I think what he's actually misinterpreted are complaints that the Mk4 controller board isn't open source.
Prusa has long bragged about their hardware being open source and they've made an about face on that over the last couple of years.
Prusa has long bragged about their hardware being open source and they've made an about face on that over the last couple of years.
If they're worried about cloning, I don't see how making it proprietary will prevent Prusa from being cloned.
https://blog.prusa3d.com/the-state-of-open-source-in-3d-prin...
One of the big takeaways from this for me is that Jo doesn't really understand IP law. He talks about wanting a new license for open source hardware; the trouble with that is that a copyright license does not and cannot protect a hardware design. That's what patents do.
That's not a defense of current IP law, just a statement on the reality of what it is.
Going non-free is going to lose him a lot of goodwill, just as what happened to makerbot.