4 ms·

I still don't understand what kind of standing the Arduino brand stealers (formerly Smart Projects, first manufacturers of Arduino) have to take over the brand

I still don't understand what kind of standing the Arduino brand stealers (formerly Smart Projects, first manufacturers of Arduino) have to take over the brand worldwide.

sigzero 11y ago
They probably don't but who knows. However, now they can move forward and away from their former POS partner.
StavrosK 11y ago
You mean that the factory that was building the Arduinos just took over the brand?
- gr33nman 11y ago
  From the article: "Much of 2015 has seen the open-source board maker defending itself from its former manufacturing partner, which recently claimed ownership of the brand, launched its own Arduino product line and website, and has worked to bar distributors from buying Arduino products from other manufacturers."
  - StavrosK 11y ago
    Yes, I saw that, but does "manufacturing partner" mean "factory"?
    - egwynn 11y ago
      Pretty much, yes. From http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arduino#Legal_dispute http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arduino#Legal_dispute At the end of 2008, Gianluca Martino's company, Smart Projects, registered the Arduino trademark in Italy and kept this a secret from the other co-founders for about two years. This was revealed when the Arduino company tried to register the trademark in other areas of the world (they originally registered only in the US), and discovered that it was already registered in Italy. Negotiations with Gianluca and his company to bring the trademark under control of the original Arduino company were not successful, and in 2014 Smart Projects began refusing to pay royalties. Smart Projects appointed a new CEO, Mr. Musto, who renamed the company to Arduino SRL and created a website named arduino.org, copying the graphics and layout of the original Arduino.cc. This resulted in a rift in the Arduino development team, and although all Arduino boards are still available to consumers, and the designs are open source, the implications of this are uncertain.
      - StavrosK 11y ago
        Oh wow, that's super dodgy.
  - makomk 11y ago
    Smart Projects Srl actually trademarked Arduino back in... 2008 I think? Before the American organization claiming to be the real Arduino even existed, in any case, and they've publicly stated they knew about that trademark all along and chose not to fight it.
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- sp332 11y ago
  I might be misreading this, but I think the factory is System Elettronica, owned by Ludovico Apruzzese. http://www.domusweb.it/en/design/2013/03/15/a-visit-to-the-arduino-factories.html http://www.domusweb.it/en/design/2013/03/15/a-visit-to-the-a...
CodeWriter23 11y ago
You're trying to understand the wrong thing. Understand the cost of a global trademark fight vs. the cost of rebranding.
ChuckMcM 11y ago
Think of it like a terrorist organization occupying a town and them declaring themselves a new country. The original manufacturer has the trademark in their locale. They were also the primary manufacturer of all branded products, and according to the article, had many folks sign a letter where they would agree to only by arduino products from said manufacturer. That is sort of like holding the town hostage with a bunch of guns. From the sequence of events it does not seem like this was an "unplanned" event by Arduino SRL. It will be interesting to see what happens next after the Genuino brand starts getting pushed.
- AceJohnny2 11y ago
  > had many folks sign a letter where they would agree to only by arduino products from said manufacturer. That's really the part I'm stunned about. How did they get leverage to get distributors to sign that? The article said "or pay a fine", how is that legal?

I still don't understand what kind of standing the Arduino brand stealers (formerly Smart Projects, first manufacturers of Arduino) have to take over the brand worldwide.

sigzero 11y ago

They probably don't but who knows. However, now they can move forward and away from their former POS partner.

StavrosK 11y ago

You mean that the factory that was building the Arduinos just took over the brand?

gr33nman 11y ago
From the article: "Much of 2015 has seen the open-source board maker defending itself from its former manufacturing partner, which recently claimed ownership of the brand, launched its own Arduino product line and website, and has worked to bar distributors from buying Arduino products from other manufacturers."
- StavrosK 11y ago
  Yes, I saw that, but does "manufacturing partner" mean "factory"?
  - egwynn 11y ago
    Pretty much, yes. From http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arduino#Legal_dispute http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arduino#Legal_dispute At the end of 2008, Gianluca Martino's company, Smart Projects, registered the Arduino trademark in Italy and kept this a secret from the other co-founders for about two years. This was revealed when the Arduino company tried to register the trademark in other areas of the world (they originally registered only in the US), and discovered that it was already registered in Italy. Negotiations with Gianluca and his company to bring the trademark under control of the original Arduino company were not successful, and in 2014 Smart Projects began refusing to pay royalties. Smart Projects appointed a new CEO, Mr. Musto, who renamed the company to Arduino SRL and created a website named arduino.org, copying the graphics and layout of the original Arduino.cc. This resulted in a rift in the Arduino development team, and although all Arduino boards are still available to consumers, and the designs are open source, the implications of this are uncertain.
    - StavrosK 11y ago
      Oh wow, that's super dodgy.
- makomk 11y ago
  Smart Projects Srl actually trademarked Arduino back in... 2008 I think? Before the American organization claiming to be the real Arduino even existed, in any case, and they've publicly stated they knew about that trademark all along and chose not to fight it.
- deleted 11y ago
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- deleted 11y ago
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sp332 11y ago
I might be misreading this, but I think the factory is System Elettronica, owned by Ludovico Apruzzese. http://www.domusweb.it/en/design/2013/03/15/a-visit-to-the-arduino-factories.html http://www.domusweb.it/en/design/2013/03/15/a-visit-to-the-a...

CodeWriter23 11y ago

You're trying to understand the wrong thing. Understand the cost of a global trademark fight vs. the cost of rebranding.

ChuckMcM 11y ago

Think of it like a terrorist organization occupying a town and them declaring themselves a new country. The original manufacturer has the trademark in their locale. They were also the primary manufacturer of all branded products, and according to the article, had many folks sign a letter where they would agree to only by arduino products from said manufacturer. That is sort of like holding the town hostage with a bunch of guns. From the sequence of events it does not seem like this was an "unplanned" event by Arduino SRL. It will be interesting to see what happens next after the Genuino brand starts getting pushed.

AceJohnny2 11y ago
> had many folks sign a letter where they would agree to only by arduino products from said manufacturer. That's really the part I'm stunned about. How did they get leverage to get distributors to sign that? The article said "or pay a fine", how is that legal?