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In the US there isn't a legal way to purchase counterfeit goods. It may be different in other countries. Similar to stolen property, the person left holding the

In the US there isn't a legal way to purchase counterfeit goods. It may be different in other countries. Similar to stolen property, the person left holding the bag gets in trouble too. Edit: after actually looking up the issue instead of guessing it turns out that in most places (other than France and Italy) there isn't much at stake for the end user, and almost all of the laws are written to stop the sale or manufacture of counterfeit items.

Igglyboo 12y ago
Yea but I highly doubt anyone is going to get in trouble for buying goods they genuinely assumed were real, only to have been lied to.
potatolicious 12y ago
> "In the US there isn't a legal way to purchase counterfeit goods." Sure, but the mechanism for combating counterfeiting is the government and law enforcement organizations, not unilateral action by the aggrieved party. FTDI has no authority - moral or legal - to be bricking devices. This is vigilantism.
the_ancient 12y ago
It is however perfectly legal to make a hardware device that could make use of the Same API and driver i.e a clone. Provided it is not branded as a FTDI chip, but rather "FTDI Driver compatible" Now that may violate the terms and lic of the driver software on windows (not on linux because it is GPLv2) but that would not make it illegal to buy nor would it give them (FTDI) the legal right to modify that hardware
- chrisBob 12y ago
  Using the FTDI vendor ID is branding it as an FTDI product. I would argue that it is even more important than the text printed on the chip since that is the part of the brand that the average end user is exposed to.
  - welterde 12y ago
    There doesn't appear to be any legal protection on USB vendor IDs though. It's just important if you want to follow the rules of the USB-IF, but that's no legal requirement.
  - the_ancient 12y ago
    Except the text printed on the chip is the only text with legal protection

Igglyboo 12y ago

Yea but I highly doubt anyone is going to get in trouble for buying goods they genuinely assumed were real, only to have been lied to.

potatolicious 12y ago

> "In the US there isn't a legal way to purchase counterfeit goods." Sure, but the mechanism for combating counterfeiting is the government and law enforcement organizations, not unilateral action by the aggrieved party. FTDI has no authority - moral or legal - to be bricking devices. This is vigilantism.

the_ancient 12y ago

It is however perfectly legal to make a hardware device that could make use of the Same API and driver i.e a clone. Provided it is not branded as a FTDI chip, but rather "FTDI Driver compatible" Now that may violate the terms and lic of the driver software on windows (not on linux because it is GPLv2) but that would not make it illegal to buy nor would it give them (FTDI) the legal right to modify that hardware

chrisBob 12y ago
Using the FTDI vendor ID is branding it as an FTDI product. I would argue that it is even more important than the text printed on the chip since that is the part of the brand that the average end user is exposed to.
- welterde 12y ago
  There doesn't appear to be any legal protection on USB vendor IDs though. It's just important if you want to follow the rules of the USB-IF, but that's no legal requirement.
- the_ancient 12y ago
  Except the text printed on the chip is the only text with legal protection