Arduino Board Copyright Issue

Forum 2005-2010 (read only) Hardware Development
1

Hi all,

I want to make some Arduino Boards to sell to the public. How do I deal with the copyright issue? You see one the released file, there is a copyright "arduino.berlios.de" and "Made in Italy" on the design file. Do I keep all those or I have to make some charges to the board and put a link on my website to Auduino?

Thanks,

2

check this page:

Where it says:
"The reference designs for arduino are distributed under a Creative Commons license Attribution-ShareAlike 2.5"
http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.5/

I am not an expert, but the way I read that license is that you can produce anything you want from the reference designs, and sell them for as much as you want. Two conditions come with that permission:

  • you have to credit the original Arduino design;
  • you have to put the same license on whatever you make with the original designs. So in theory, every successive thing made from the Arduino project is completely open, as it has to maintain the "Attribution-ShareAlike" license described above.

But the part that is missing from the pure copyright approach is that much of the success of the Arduino project is due to the fact that the current manufacturer and the developer have taken big risks to get these boards produced. If you start trying to undercut their prices, it could ultimately do a disservice to the Arduino community, as they may not be able to continue researching and producing such great quality boards in the face of price competition. You have to realize that the 32 USD board represents a design, high-quality manufacturing and most importantly, thousands of hours of development time. If you try to sell just the board without the investment in the project and the development time, well we're back at square one then :slight_smile:

Just my 2 cents.

D

3

Good points.

I think the team wants more people to take part in the community. Don't you think that making the board more accessible and affordable is a way to promote the Arduino project? I can design some Shields and make them open (Creative Commons) as my contribution to the project. I think this is a win-win.

4

How do I join the development team?

5

hi

Try the developer's list...you can subscribe here:
http://mail.arduino.cc/mailman/listinfo/developers_arduino.cc

D