It is sad in so many ways, and it has the possibility of becoming terribly sad if the victor is decided not by merit but by who runs out of money first.
capitalism can cruel.
That said, it isn't necessarily a fair fight.
The issue over logos and trademarks, product names is a big and important issue that needs to be resolved.
Unfortunately, from what I can tell it isn't so cut and dry given the sloppiness of how the "business" was run
early on.
I also agree that "Arduino LLC" is the "real" Arduino company/organization.
Just my guess/assumption but it appears that lots of things that should be done in a typical startup business were not initially done by Arduino LLC, employment contracts, Intellectual Property agreements, etc.
So there seems to be many things open to dispute.
Even the dates used to resolve the disputes may be hard to get a grip on.
For example, you would think that since Arduino LLC owns the USA word mark for "Arduino" and the "infinity" logo that they could use that to go to the registrar and claim arduino.org to shut it down.
However, arduino.org was created prior to the registration of the Arduino LLC "Arduino" word mark and that is what the registrar dispute process will use.
Also, the filing of the Arduino LLC "Arduino" word mark itself was poorly handled. The mark was filed, comments came back and then Arduino LLC never bothered to follow up and the time expired after a year or so and the mark was tagged abandoned (essentially denied).
Then through some additional re-filings they revived it and finally managed to get it.
So the dates of these marks now get tricky, particularly since the mark was already being used for years
in many countries so now you not only have to determine priority dates but also what countries
rules to apply.
Not only that but there are too many things "Arduino" i.e. there are many different things all called "Arduino".
The current registered Arduino LLC "Arduino" USA "ARDUINO" word mark was very specific as to what the mark covered:
Goods & Services: "ELECTRONIC CIRCUIT BOARDS"
This is an actual registered mark: #3931675
filed april 7, 2010, claiming a priority use date of: FIRST USE: 20050921. FIRST USE IN COMMERCE: 20051015
with a publication for opposition date of june 8, 2010
with a registration date of March 15, 2011
The kicker is that it only applies to circuit boards, therefore its use for any else, like s/w
would not be covered.
Also, from my memory they originally filed this back in 2009, but then never bothered
to follow up on it and let the originally filing lapse in late 2009.
Arduino LLC also has a trademark for the "infinity" logo (the infinty with "ARDUINO" below it)
filed october 4, 2010, claming a priority use date of: FIRST USE: 20100926. FIRST USE IN COMMERCE: 20100926
with a publication for opposition date of Jan 3, 2012
with a registration date of March 20, 2012.
Roll forward, and now there are some new "ARDUINO" USA wordmark filings:
ARDUINO S.R.L filed a USA wordmark for "ARDUINO"
Filed on Sept 19, 2014 with a priority use date: FIRST USE: 20050921. FIRST USE IN COMMERCE: 20051031
has not been published for opposition yet,
obviously has not registered.
Goods & Services usage:
"Peripheral devices (computer); stand alone general purpose micro controller boards used for calculation and interface to low voltage electronic components, electromechanical components and electronic systems like personal computers, modems and wireless devices"
Arduino LLC filed a USA wordmark for "ARDUINO"
Filed on October 10, 2014 with a priority use date of: (NONE specified)
has not been published for opposition yet,
obviously has not registered.
Goods & Services usage:
3D printers; computer hardware; microcontrollers; circuit boards; Open-source wearable electronic circuit boards; computer hardware subassemblies for assembling custom electrical and electronic devices; wireless transmitters and receivers; LED circuit boards; personal electronic devices, namely, open-source wearable computer; computer software development tools; computer hardware kits for making electronic projects consisting of cables, wires, resistors, push buttons, temperature sensors, tilt sensors, LEDs, servo motors, piezoelectric sound components, capacitors, transistors, electric resistors, batteries and electronic connectors hardware and circuit boards for recording, organizing, transmitting, manipulating, reviewing, and receiving text, data, images and audio files
online retail store services
education services
design and development of computer hardware and software; consulting services in the field of electronics and computer hardware
Arduino LLC filed a USA word mark for "ARDUINO YUN"
Filed on sept 11, 2014 with a priority use date of: FIRST USE: 20130900. FIRST USE IN COMMERCE: 20130900
(none of my calendars have a 0 of january.....)
publish for opposition date: April 14, 2015
obviously has not registered.
Goods & Services usage: Circuit boards; Computer hardware; Microcontrollers
Arduino LLC filed a USA word mark for "ARDUINO ZERO"
Filed on Feb 5, 2015 with a priority use date of: (non specified)
has not been published for opposition yet,
obviously has not registered.
Goods & Services usage: Circuit boards
So it looks like the "can't we all just get along days" are over, and now there is a giant pissing match going on for "ARDUINO" word marks.
The existing Arduino LLC mark was way too narrow, Then Arduino SRL came in and filed a broader one
in late 2014 but is claiming the same priority dates as the existing Arduino LLC dates.
Then just a bit after the Arduino SRL filing, Arduino LLC filed a word mark for "ARDUINO" with
every single use could imagine.
For some date history:
October 26, 2005 Arduino LLC creates arduino.cc
April 7, 2009 Arduino LLC files for a "Arduino" word mark for "circuit boards"
In late 2009, Arduino LLC fails to follow up on word mark and lets it expire. (december from my memory - USPTO doesn't currently report this)
January 17 2010 Smart/Arduino SRL creates arduino.org
Sometime in 2010, Arduino LLC re-files "ARDUINO" word mark to revive it (USPTO doesn't currently report this - but shows original date from 2009)
June 8, 2010 Arduino LLC "ARDUINO" word mark published for opposition
March 15, 2011 Arduino LLC granted registered word mark for "ARDUINO" for use in goods & services for "ELECTRONIC CIRCUIT BOARDS"
Sept 19, 2014, Arduino SRL files for "ARDUINO" word mark (broader but different from the existing Arduino LLC word mark).
October 10, 2014, Arduino LLC files for "ARDUINO" word mark (broader than original word mark but overlaps just filed Arduino SRL word mark)
Not sure how all this will shake out.
One possible odd scenario is that Arduino SRL gets their "ARDUINO" wordmark and the new "ARDUINO" wordmark Arduino LLC
just filed is rejected because it overlaps the Arduino SRL mark.
I'm sure lawyers are currently involved.
It is very messy and will likely span laws of multiple countries.
--- bill