Arduino vs Arduino
What is Arduino, I think, most of Habr's readers do not need to explain. In fact, it is a convenient radio designer for the rapid development of electronic devices. But many do not know that a great controversy broke out between its founders, which is currently pending in the Massachusetts District Court. The future of the project depends on the resolution of this dispute.
Arduino LLC was founded in the USA by five founders of Arduino led by Massimo Banzi in 2008 and is the owner of the Arduino trademark. The second side of the conflict is the owner of the only factory in Italy, Gianluca Martino, whose company Smart Projects SRL produces original Arduino boards, recognizable by the inscription “Made in Italy”. For a long time they fruitfully cooperated: Arduino LLC developed the boards and IDE, and Smart Projects SRL produced the fees and paid them royalties (payment for using the trademark). Everyone seems to be happy.
The main cause of the conflict was a different idea of ​​where the original Arduino boards should be made. The owners of Arduino LLC believe that the company should deal mainly with the development of ideology and the official Arduino boards can be made in other countries, for example, in China (where most of the Arduino clones, including illegal copies with the Arduino logo, are mainly made) . Naturally, Martino doesn’t like this option very much, as it will be harder for him to compete with cheaper manufacturers. Therefore, he stopped paying royalties, calling himself the "real" Arduino. Then in September 2014, Arduino LLC sued Arduino SRL for illegal use of the trademark.
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But not everything is so simple. In turn, in October 2014, Smart Projects SRL applied to the USPTO (United States Patent and Trademark Office) to cancel the trademark Arduino LLC, stating: “We applied for a trademark in September 2014 and produce boards labeled Arduino with 2005 Arduino LLC was founded in 2009 and did not control this name while it applied for a trademark. ” And indeed, Arduino LLC bothered to register it only in April 2009 in the United States.
In addition, in November 2014, Martino and the new CEO, Federico Musto, renamed Smart Projects SRL to Arduino SRL, and registered the domain arduino.org . Then they created a website similar in design to the well-known arduino.cc site, but differing in the model range. This led to the fact that in January 2015, Arduino LLC filed a lawsuit in the United States, proving its right to the name of Arduino.
March 10, 2015 Arduino LLC releases a new version of the Arduino IDE. And starting from version 1.6.1, a patch appeared in the Arduino code base, which causes a warning dialog box, if you connect the Arduino with the manufacturer's USB ID (VID) equal to 0x2A03. A pop-up message reads: “This board is made by an uncertified manufacturer. We will not be able to provide assistance if it is not working as expected. ”
Who is the manufacturer with this ID? It is owned by Dog Hunter AG, in which the general director is also the same Federico Musto, who came to Arduino SRL.
Then Arduino SRL, taking advantage of the fact that the Arduino IDE is distributed under the GPLv2 license, releases its fork and gives it the proud name of Arduino IDE 1.7.0 (given that the official version is 1.6.3). This fork is no different, it doesn’t even include the latest changes, but it supports all the boards made by Arduino SRL.
Fearing that they may lose their sales lines, on March 27, 2015, Arduino SRL sends a letter to its distribution partners assuring them that it is the only “real Arduino”. The main idea of ​​this letter is that Arduino SRL produces boards using the name of Arduino, therefore they are the real Arduino.
Most distributors are waiting. And waiting for the outcome of the fight. So, SparkFun - one of the largest partners of the Arduino, can not answer who is right . And it buys payments from Arduino SRL and continues to pay royalties to Arduino LLC for the fees it makes, considering that customers themselves decide with their money who is right.
On October 1, 2016, on the official blog arduino.cc , a message appeared that companies reached an amicable settlement to work on a common project. At the end of the year, a new joint venture Arduino Holding will be formed, which will become a single point of cooperation in organizing the supply of all current and future Arduino products. In addition, the non-profit organization Arduino Foundation will be created, which will be responsible for supporting the development of open source projects such as the Arduino IDE, coordinating community activities and promoting new initiatives in development.
A little history
Arduino LLC was founded in the USA by five founders of Arduino led by Massimo Banzi in 2008 and is the owner of the Arduino trademark. The second side of the conflict is the owner of the only factory in Italy, Gianluca Martino, whose company Smart Projects SRL produces original Arduino boards, recognizable by the inscription “Made in Italy”. For a long time they fruitfully cooperated: Arduino LLC developed the boards and IDE, and Smart Projects SRL produced the fees and paid them royalties (payment for using the trademark). Everyone seems to be happy.
The essence of the conflict
The main cause of the conflict was a different idea of ​​where the original Arduino boards should be made. The owners of Arduino LLC believe that the company should deal mainly with the development of ideology and the official Arduino boards can be made in other countries, for example, in China (where most of the Arduino clones, including illegal copies with the Arduino logo, are mainly made) . Naturally, Martino doesn’t like this option very much, as it will be harder for him to compete with cheaper manufacturers. Therefore, he stopped paying royalties, calling himself the "real" Arduino. Then in September 2014, Arduino LLC sued Arduino SRL for illegal use of the trademark.
')
But not everything is so simple. In turn, in October 2014, Smart Projects SRL applied to the USPTO (United States Patent and Trademark Office) to cancel the trademark Arduino LLC, stating: “We applied for a trademark in September 2014 and produce boards labeled Arduino with 2005 Arduino LLC was founded in 2009 and did not control this name while it applied for a trademark. ” And indeed, Arduino LLC bothered to register it only in April 2009 in the United States.
In addition, in November 2014, Martino and the new CEO, Federico Musto, renamed Smart Projects SRL to Arduino SRL, and registered the domain arduino.org . Then they created a website similar in design to the well-known arduino.cc site, but differing in the model range. This led to the fact that in January 2015, Arduino LLC filed a lawsuit in the United States, proving its right to the name of Arduino.
Battle around an integrated development environment
March 10, 2015 Arduino LLC releases a new version of the Arduino IDE. And starting from version 1.6.1, a patch appeared in the Arduino code base, which causes a warning dialog box, if you connect the Arduino with the manufacturer's USB ID (VID) equal to 0x2A03. A pop-up message reads: “This board is made by an uncertified manufacturer. We will not be able to provide assistance if it is not working as expected. ”
Who is the manufacturer with this ID? It is owned by Dog Hunter AG, in which the general director is also the same Federico Musto, who came to Arduino SRL.
Then Arduino SRL, taking advantage of the fact that the Arduino IDE is distributed under the GPLv2 license, releases its fork and gives it the proud name of Arduino IDE 1.7.0 (given that the official version is 1.6.3). This fork is no different, it doesn’t even include the latest changes, but it supports all the boards made by Arduino SRL.
Distributors
Fearing that they may lose their sales lines, on March 27, 2015, Arduino SRL sends a letter to its distribution partners assuring them that it is the only “real Arduino”. The main idea of ​​this letter is that Arduino SRL produces boards using the name of Arduino, therefore they are the real Arduino.
Most distributors are waiting. And waiting for the outcome of the fight. So, SparkFun - one of the largest partners of the Arduino, can not answer who is right . And it buys payments from Arduino SRL and continues to pay royalties to Arduino LLC for the fees it makes, considering that customers themselves decide with their money who is right.
Reconciliation?
On October 1, 2016, on the official blog arduino.cc , a message appeared that companies reached an amicable settlement to work on a common project. At the end of the year, a new joint venture Arduino Holding will be formed, which will become a single point of cooperation in organizing the supply of all current and future Arduino products. In addition, the non-profit organization Arduino Foundation will be created, which will be responsible for supporting the development of open source projects such as the Arduino IDE, coordinating community activities and promoting new initiatives in development.
Source: https://habr.com/ru/post/255999/
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