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| Bluetooth device registration is $8000. |
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| tom66:
--- Quote from: langwadt on February 19, 2021, 03:21:19 pm ---isn't similar with USB? --- End quote --- No. USB may be used free-of-charge provided you don't use their trademarks and don't need a unique Vendor ID. |
| AndyC_772:
I agree, it's unclear where the requirement to pay the fee begins and ends. If I were to roll my own BT solution, using a generic 2.4G radio and my own software stack, it would make perfect sense to have to pay a licence fee for the technology, and go through a certification process to say "yes, this product that claims BT compliance really is BT compliant". The fee of $8k would be small change compared to the cost of developing such a solution anyway. However, smaller volume manufacturers don't do that. They buy pre-assembled, pre-certified modules that include all the RF circuitry and software stack, and present a simple API over (say) a UART interface. These are relatively inexpensive (though nowhere near as cheap as the per-unit cost of a home grown solution), and their main selling points are the lack of need to develop a complete wireless solution or certify it. The compliance and certification requirements apply to the module; it's the module that's the BT product, not the device that incorporates it. If there's now been a change in the rules which would indeed mean that a product incorporating an already-certified 3rd party module must now itself be certified as a whole, for a fee, then the OP is completely right to complain and so would I. |
| mikeselectricstuff:
--- Quote from: JohnnyMalaria on February 19, 2021, 02:39:19 pm ---Why shouldn't you pay to benefit from their technology? --- End quote --- 1) Because you're paying the people you buy the Bluetooth module or chipset from. The purchase of that should convey all licensing needed to sell the product containing it. 2) Is it reasonable to be expected to pay exactly the same fee to ship ten products as ten million ? |
| JohnnyMalaria:
--- Quote from: mikeselectricstuff on February 19, 2021, 04:01:41 pm --- --- Quote from: JohnnyMalaria on February 19, 2021, 02:39:19 pm ---Why shouldn't you pay to benefit from their technology? --- End quote --- 1) Because you're paying the people you buy the Bluetooth module or chipset from. The purchase of that should convey all licensing needed to sell the product containing it. 2) Is it reasonable to be expected to pay exactly the same fee to ship ten products as ten million ? --- End quote --- If you are buying a BT chip that needs additional electronics to function as a final product, then you are on the hook for making sure it complies with the standard. Just because the chip itself does what it is supposed to correctly, doesn't mean the final product will comply. And if a selling feature of your product is that it is Bluetooth compliant, you need to show it. But if you incorporate something like an SoC that has BT but you don't use it, then you certainly shouldn't have to pay for that. Perhaps that's why I've only come across one FPGA vendor that integrates BT. |
| nali:
--- Quote from: JohnnyMalaria on February 19, 2021, 04:10:39 pm ---If you are buying a BT chip that needs additional electronics to function as a final product, then you are on the hook for making sure it complies with the standard. Just because the chip itself does what it is supposed to correctly, doesn't mean the final product will comply. And if a selling feature of your product is that it is Bluetooth compliant, you need to show it. But if you incorporate something like an SoC that has BT but you don't use it, then you certainly shouldn't have to pay for that. Perhaps that's why I've only come across one FPGA vendor that integrates BT. --- End quote --- Qualification doesn't just involve compliance, there is also the "End Product Declaration". So if I use a certified module (which will have the compliance costs already amortized in the price) in my product I'd still have to declare and pay fees to take the product to market. It's basically brand licensing and enforcement. |
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