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There is no law against using someone else's USB VID, as long as you don't put a USB certification logo on your product. What FTDI did, on the other hand, is m
by marcan_42 5y ago
There is no law against using someone else's USB VID, as long as you don't put a USB certification logo on your product.
What FTDI did, on the other hand, is malware and clearly illegal. It is destroying private property and I guarantee violated multiple laws in many countries.
- chithanh 5y agoI don't know the laws elsewhere, but here in Europe trademark holders absolutely have the right to demand counterfeit products be seized and destroyed. Even if the owner acquired them in good faith. Also it would be interesting whether any compatible chips exist that use FTDI USB VID but were not marked with the FTDI logo. Of course this kind of vigilante justice by FDTI is illegal, but who is going to press charges if that means they will get their devices taken from them and destroyed?
- marcan_42 5y agoRight, we're talking about clones that don't use FTDI's logo. I don't know if they exist, but they well might. The point is that the VID itself doesn't have any legal protection.
- kragen 5y agoI didn't mean to imply that the clone vendors were breaking a law by using FTDI's VID. As far as I know you are correct that they were not.