Hi, I've developed a small project related to some pump automation. It's my and a friends written code, optimized by testing for a few weeks. For ease of assembly we have currently used Pro mini board. We plan to release this in market but don't want people to just copy away our invested time. We are also going to offer this project to end users at around 20$ price only. Not making more than 2-3 dollars on each sold solution.
I was thinking how about if we break some pin at IC level like Tx and Rx pins after code upload. I am sure without a connected Rx Tx cloning hardware would work Or would at least make it very difficult for people to just use AVRDude kinda options to clone it.
At least buys us some time before clones arrive. although with such slim margins, exact hardware won't be possible but someone may kill it with a cheaper Microcontroller may be.