Arduino vs. Arduino

[Stonent]

I believe these are the people I called out in this forum that had some kind of kickstarter campaign for something where they referred to themselves as the original makers of the Arduino board or something to that effect.  In reality they were a contract firm that Massimo used to assemble the boards at one time. 

https://www.eevblog.com/forum/crowd-funded-projects/smartduino-real-project-with-deceptive-info/

[EEVblog]

I believe these are the people I called out in this forum that had some kind of kickstarter campaign for something where they referred to themselves as the original makers of the Arduino board or something to that effect.  In reality they were a contract firm that Massimo used to assemble the boards at one time. 
https://www.eevblog.com/forum/crowd-funded-projects/smartduino-real-project-with-deceptive-info/

Not the same guy, this is just someone who it seems used to work for them on the assembly line or some such.

[LabSpokane]

At this point, it's unclear to me if funding either side of this shitstorm is worth doing.
The money will go to lawyers. Hopefully a third party with the skills to get the IDE ported into something that does not fall under these silly licensing schemes can take over.

The only things worth saving are the boot loader and the IDE. The UNO footprint is, and should be, disposed of with extreme prejudice. The popularity of the ProMini says a lot.

[EEVblog]

I find it hilarious that Arduino.cc have a "Trademark Team" to handle a trademark they don't even own!, and have known they don't own for many many years 
http://arduino.cc/en/Trademark/HomePage?from=Main.Trademark

[EEVblog]

Hopefully a third party with the skills to get the IDE ported into something that does not fall under these silly licensing schemes can take over.

No need to port, just remove the word Arduino from everything.

[pickle9000]

I find it hilarious that Arduino.cc have a "Trademark Team" to handle a trademark they don't even own!, and have known they don't own for many many years 
http://arduino.cc/en/Trademark/HomePage?from=Main.Trademark

Sounds like we need a naming contest.

How about "Sparkticuss" or "Asprino"?

[FreddyVictor]

my suggestions:
ArduinNew
Arduine-NT

[gildasd]

my suggestions:
ArduinNew
Arduine-NT

Arduimillenium?

[Whales]

Ardvark

[ivan747]

AdrOS X


In all seriousness, I think one of the sides is going to vanish and the process of determining which will be more or less random. Also, after this, the ecosystem will loose strength to diversification. We've seen this happen in countless open source software projects.

[dannyf]

ARS
ARDSoX

[pickle9000]

I do think the name will survive and I hope the original company(s) will as well.

If your looking for hobby electronics now it easy to use "arduino" as a search term. On ebay that is the easy way to find cheap stuff related to electronics.

When I was young hobby electronics was only a magazine and Radio Shack thing. Now it's more of a order on line sort of thing. I suppose closer to mail order than anything. Arduino is the "100 in 1 kit" for beginners. Not as good in reality but still in 20 years it will have been the start for many young engineers. For me that is good enough. 

[gildasd]

I do think the name will survive and I hope the original company(s) will as well.

If your looking for hobby electronics now it easy to use "arduino" as a search term. On ebay that is the easy way to find cheap stuff related to electronics.

When I was young hobby electronics was only a magazine and Radio Shack thing. Now it's more of a order on line sort of thing. I suppose closer to mail order than anything. Arduino is the "100 in 1 kit" for beginners. Not as good in reality but still in 20 years it will have been the start for many young engineers. For me that is good enough.

When I was young electronics was a potato, two pieces of wet string, a bit of tinfoil and a sewing needle.

If you were lucky.

[alexanderbrevig]

Excuse my malice, but as a core member of Wiring I enjoy that their ... odd ways are catching up.
The "Arduino Language" was written by the (at the time stdent) Hernando Barragan, and one of founders of Arduino was his professor for his thesis. His thesis was Wiring, and the functions we all know (pinMode digitalWrite et.al). Instead of starting something with the designer and originator of the "language", the professor advised Hernando to open source - then he forked everything and started Arduino. It still pisses me off </rant>

They have done wonders for the maker community so I hope it turns out OK though. Whatever that is...

ps: I'm presenting my personal thought in this post

[pickle9000]

Excuse my malice, but as a core member of Wiring I enjoy that their ... odd ways are catching up.
The "Arduino Language" was written by the (at the time stdent) Hernando Barragan, and one of founders of Arduino was his professor for his thesis. His thesis was Wiring, and the functions we all know (pinMode digitalWrite et.al). Instead of starting something with the designer and originator of the "language", the professor advised Hernando to open source - then he forked everything and started Arduino. It still pisses me off </rant>

They have done wonders for the maker community so I hope it turns out OK though. Whatever that is...

ps: I'm presenting my personal thought in this post

There is a certain amount of karma in the world. Not that I wish bad things on people but I believe if you act with malice it often (but not always) come back to bite you in the ass. They may in fact be suffering from an attack of negative karma.

When it comes to positive karma I hope those of you at "wiring" get yours as well. You can certainly pat yourself on the back for helping all the potential young engineers out there that use what you produce.

[alexanderbrevig]

Has anyone seen a source that presents the dispute from the view of Smart Projects / Gianluca?

Also, for those interested (not sure if it's posted here yet) here's the lawsuit https://www.unitedstatescourts.org/federal/mad/167131/

Thanks for the words pickle9000.

[EEVblog]

Has anyone seen a source that presents the dispute from the view of Smart Projects / Gianluca?

I haven't, and if I was him and Massimo isn't telling the whole story, I'd plaster it all over the front page of my website quick smart.
So either Massimo is telling the whole story, or/and Smart Projects don't care enough and think they have the upper hand, so best to stay quiet.

[alexanderbrevig]

[...] So either Massimo is telling the whole story, or/and Smart Projects don't care enough and think they have the upper hand, so best to stay quiet.

That has been my logic too, but it may be that Massimo is just more comfortable with the focus of attention. I've been looking for something but to no avail so far.

If .cc tells the whole truth and nothing but - then it should be easy to legally prove that they have their name used in commerce well preceding the registration? Not sure how the law works in the US but in Norway that's all it takes (more or less).

[EEVblog]

If .cc tells the whole truth and nothing but - then it should be easy to legally prove that they have their name used in commerce well preceding the registration? Not sure how the law works in the US but in Norway that's all it takes (more or less).

It is never that easy with Trademark law.
I have it on good authority from a trademark attorney that if Smart Projects are prepared to defend their trademark, then getting back the trademark from them will take upwards of 7 digits in the US.
It is a very real possibility that both companies will go bankrupt arguing over this trademark before anyone "wins".
Massimo et.al should just admit they got duped and move on, unless they have a deep pockets financial backer who is willing to fund the legal fight.
They should take up the Freeduino banner http://www.freeduino.org/ declare it the new standard, and forget the name Arduino ever existed.
Let Smart Projects stand on their own with their "official standard".

[mtdoc]

Also, for those interested (not sure if it's posted here yet) here's the lawsuit https://www.unitedstatescourts.org/federal/mad/167131/

Thanks for the link. Very enlightening to read through the legal complaint.  If they can substantiate what they state, and it does seem to fit with the history as I've seen it, then Arduino.cc is in the right - at least from an ethical standpoint. Of course whether the court sees it that way depends on the law which may not correspond with the ethics.

[pickle9000]

That was a very interesting read. They should never let it go to court, what a mess.

[EEVblog]

Thanks for the link. Very enlightening to read through the legal complaint.  If they can substantiate what they state, and it does seem to fit with the history as I've seen it, then Arduino.cc is in the right - at least from an ethical standpoint. Of course whether the court sees it that way depends on the law which may not correspond with the ethics.

The law isn't about ethics, it's about the law.
And yep, it's a US lawsuit, they will both go bankrupt first unless one caves in first.

[pickle9000]

I wonder if the board producer (in Italy) will be audited for taxes? Looks like he held back in paying to the group and if that's the case he could be fighting two battles.

[mtdoc]

The law isn't about ethics, it's about the law.

Exactly - and that was my point!

Occasionally the two are in agreement - thought often not.

I'm glad to see it out in the open and hope it gets wide publicity in the Maker community. That way, hopefully, the judgement of the end users will count for something and perhaps in the end be more important than the legal judgement.

[EEVblog]

The main claim has the whole history:
https://www.unitedstatescourts.org/federal/mad/167131/1-0.html

Damn, it's messy.