What's happened now to make this into an issue?
smARtDUINO - Real project with deceptive info
Project by Dimitri Albino Romano, Italy
We started our company over 15 years ago in the north of Italy, in a very small town. Our company used to be a contractor for the manufacturing of Arduino™ and, a couple of years ago, some important staff left the factory that manufactured the Arduino™ to join us. With this transition we gain a lot of experience in this field.
What makes us different, from the people that usually propose this kind of projects on Kickstarter, is the fact that we are involved and specialized in making products, not just experimenting or prototyping. This allowed us to think and design something that goes a few steps beyond.
We run our business in Italy but we also have our own office and staff in Shenzhen, China since 2006, and a branch in Orlando, Florida. We are still a small company, only ten people running a typical family business, but with a very deep knowledge and huge experience.
"smARtDUINO: Open System by former ARDUINO's manufacturer" lol! that's like "smArt-µCurrent: Current meter by former Dave Jones µCurrent manufacturer"
"smARtDUINO: Open System by former ARDUINO's manufacturer" lol! that's like "smArt-µCurrent: Current meter by former Dave Jones µCurrent manufacturer"
And? I still dont see whats so wrong about that?
You are making undue assumptions about the usage restrictions of the "Arduino" name. Please read the section here under "What should I call my boards" first: http://arduino.cc/en/Main/FAQ
And then after doing that, consider the product names that Arduino team has chosen not to strong-arm.
- Netduino
- TinyDuino
- DFRDuino
- RFDuino
- Various other (smaller) one-off boards like "R-Duino" and "G-Duino".
By those facts alone, there is absolutely NO legal ground for Arduino to pursue this product or manufacturer (it didn't stop them from trying). But let's continue...
Next, review what this project really is. And by that I mean don't skip past the full detail. Actually read through it. http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/fairduino/smartduino-open-system-by-former-arduinos-manufact
Lastly, understand that the name "smartduino" is not even the final product name (and there isn't just a single product - this is a full range of related products). Review the online store that lists the products with the actual final names: http://smartmaker.com/en/
The company name is "Smart Maker", which was not final when the Kickstarter campaign was underway - "SmartDuino" was a temporary working name only. All of the products are labeled under "SmartMade Open System", and they are all prefixed with "Smart" as in "SmartBus", "SmartHost", "SmartMod", and "SmartCore" (which is the closest analogue to an Arduino in this product line). The word "Arduino" only appears in the names of two boards "SmartHost for Arduino" and "SmartHost for Arduino Mega", which simply allow you to take any SmartCore and wrap it up in an Arduino/ArduinoMega compatible form-factor. This naming is fully in compliance with even the most conservative interpretation of the Arduino trademark usage restrictions. It is explicitly allowed.
You will notice that the Smart Maker even sells officially branded Arduino products as well - there is no attempt to make any of their own products look like official Arduinos or otherwise trick customers into thinking that they are in any way affiliated with the Arduino products.
I'm not making any assumptions at all. I had previously read what the official policy of Arduino is, and I know a little about trademark law. The official rules state:
If you're making your own board, come up with your own name! ..."Arduino" is a trademark of Arduino team and should not be used for unofficial variants.
...Not okay:
Arduino Xxxxxx
Xxxxxx Arduino
Seems clear. That Arduino did not pursue legal action does not mean SmARtDUINO is in the right or legally allowed to use the name. The standard for trademark infringement, IIRC, is whether a normal person would have any confusion about the relationship/origin of the products that infringe. There were people who were confused by the naming and sought clarification from the creators - that alone proves there was confusion.
It's irrelevant if smARtDUINO was 'just a working name' as that is the name they chose to offer their products to the public under.
I'm not saying the SmaARtDUINO guys are shysters or scammers, but they most definitely leveraged the Arduino name and "relationship" (such as it was) to their advantage to get more $$. I believe they infringed Arduino's trademark in doing so - but I'm not gonna lose any sleep over it. If Arduino wants to sue, they can... they probably realized as most would that suing a guy in China is a fools errand, and let it go.
While unofficial products should not have "Arduino" in their name, it's okay to describe your product in relation to the Arduino project and platform. Here are a few guidelines that explain which uses we consider reasonable. Not okay:Okay:
- Arduino Xxxxxx
- Xxxxxx Arduino
- Arduino Compatible Xxxxxx - use "Xxxxxx (Arduino-Compatible)" instead
Note that while we don't attempt to restrict uses of the "duino" suffix, its use causes the Italians on the team to cringe (apparently it sounds terrible); you might want to avoid it. (It's also trademarked by a Hungarian company.)
- Xxxxxx for Arduino - products that work with official Arduino boards (e.g. shields or kits)
- Xxxxxx (Arduino-Compatible) - variations and clones which are software and hardware compatible
I'm not making any assumptions at all. I had previously read what the official policy of Arduino is, and I know a little about trademark law. The official rules state:
If you're making your own board, come up with your own name! ..."Arduino" is a trademark of Arduino team and should not be used for unofficial variants.
...Not okay:
Arduino Xxxxxx
Xxxxxx Arduino
Seems clear. That Arduino did not pursue legal action does not mean SmARtDUINO is in the right or legally allowed to use the name. The standard for trademark infringement, IIRC, is whether a normal person would have any confusion about the relationship/origin of the products that infringe. There were people who were confused by the naming and sought clarification from the creators - that alone proves there was confusion.
It's irrelevant if smARtDUINO was 'just a working name' as that is the name they chose to offer their products to the public under.
I'm not saying the SmaARtDUINO guys are shysters or scammers, but they most definitely leveraged the Arduino name and "relationship" (such as it was) to their advantage to get more $$. I believe they infringed Arduino's trademark in doing so - but I'm not gonna lose any sleep over it. If Arduino wants to sue, they can... they probably realized as most would that suing a guy in China is a fools errand, and let it go.
Suing is frivolous in this case is because of the other half of what you quote from the usage requirements. Here is the whole thing with relevant parts in bold:QuoteWhile unofficial products should not have "Arduino" in their name, it's okay to describe your product in relation to the Arduino project and platform. Here are a few guidelines that explain which uses we consider reasonable. Not okay:Okay:
- Arduino Xxxxxx
- Xxxxxx Arduino
- Arduino Compatible Xxxxxx - use "Xxxxxx (Arduino-Compatible)" instead
Note that while we don't attempt to restrict uses of the "duino" suffix, its use causes the Italians on the team to cringe (apparently it sounds terrible); you might want to avoid it. (It's also trademarked by a Hungarian company.)
- Xxxxxx for Arduino - products that work with official Arduino boards (e.g. shields or kits)
- Xxxxxx (Arduino-Compatible) - variations and clones which are software and hardware compatible
None of the boards in the SmartMaker line are using anything that resembles a variation of the "not okay" list. Two of the boards use the highlighted variation from the "okay" list. The remaining boards have names that are 100% unrelated to the Arduino name.
So based on that information, the only thing to worry about is potential action from an unnamed Hungarian company based on the temporary name that was only used in the Kickstarter campaign's original copy text. And even if Arduino held some legal standing on this, it wouldn't matter. You cannot selectively enforce a trademark. If you fail to defend it, then you forfeit the right to defend it. That's how trademark law works. To win any infringement case, they would also need to pursue infringement cases against the other products I listed. But again, there is nothing violated here so it's all moot anyways.
Now what does happen occasionally, and what Massimo assumed was the case here, is that Chinese based manufacturers will go and produce Arduino boards - branding them as "Arduino" - and sell them into the market. Arduino has every right to defend against counterfeiting, and they should.