> >         - vendor A sells hardware that requires a firmware
quoted text
> >
> >         - OpenBSD wants to support that hardware and needs the firmware
> >                 to be shipped, say in /etc/firmware/, to have the
> >                 hardware work out of the box
> >
> >         - vendor A says "if a customer wants the firmware, he must go
> >                 to out website and fill a registration form online".
> >
> >         - OpenBSD does not ship the firmware because it is not free
> >                 enough.

In that case, it would be illegal for you to distribute the firmware,
so naturally you don't.  No argument there.

But what about the different case where the company permits
redistribution of the binary firmware, but does not release source
code.  Would OpenBSD distribute the firmware in that case?