Depending on your target market, open-sourcing your hardware makes a lot of sense. I open-sourced my commercial USB oscilloscope design (https://github.com/Espo

Depending on your target market, open-sourcing your hardware makes a lot of sense. I open-sourced my commercial USB oscilloscope design (https://github.com/EspoTek/Labrador https://github.com/EspoTek/Labrador) after doing a bit of research into boards targeted at electronics hobbyists and crowdfunded by individuals or small teams. Invariably, a community didn't form around the closed-source boards and they died. A lot of people asked me what I'm doing to protect my IP from being "stolen". The most effective solution I've found so far is efficient logistics. I take advantage of 3PL companies in Shenzhen, as well as Amazon FBA in the US (and Europe soon) to make sure that it's easy for customers anywhere in the world to buy the product. So far, I've sold close to 10k units and the the only clones I've seen were made by a student in Iran for personal use.