Santos-Dumont was so enthusiastic about
    aviation that he made the drawings of the 
    Demoiselle available free of charge, 
    thinking that aviation would lead 
    to a new prosperous era for mankind.

I've always admired his open-sourcing of the Demoiselle, when disease and a failing business model lead him to retire. The drawings were published in (or through) magazines worldwide, including Popular Mechanics, and were very influential for a period of time. The airplane models were versioned (No. 19, 20...) and apparently there were even "plugins" popping up everywhere, so Demoiselle enthusiasts could upgrade their aircraft to taste.

http://web.archive.org/web/20091026211607/http://www.geociti...