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by tobydownton 4954 days ago
Why is it lame/appalling? I've read the comments on the blog post and apparently the "duino" name isn't trademarked, and therefore they are quite within their right to use a variation of it (however lame it may appear).

Further commentary reveals that the people who have backed this guy are happy that he is the real deal, and that the problem has mostly stemmed from English being his second language, leading to a mis-communication over quite what part they had in manufacturing arduinos in Italy.
2 comments
saddino 4954 days ago
No. A goods/services provider has "common" trademark protection in the US even if without a registered mark, so this usage is not "within their right."

http://tcattorney.typepad.com/ip/2008/06/what-are-common.htm...

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kfury 4953 days ago
Relevant, from Arduino's FAQ: "Note that while we don't attempt to restrict uses of the "duino" suffix, its use causes the Italians on the team to cringe (apparently it sounds terrible); you might want to avoid it."

http://arduino.cc/en/Main/FAQ

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DannyBee 4953 days ago
Except that the main trademark is probably held in Italy (since that's where the project was started), the project owner is in China, and Kickstarter is in the US.

Are you suggesting there is a simple resolution to this set of law conflicts, and the answer is "it's not okay"?

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darkarmani 4953 days ago
What if smARtDUINO was rendered with the lowercase letters in a much smaller font? It looks like they are intentionally trying to use the ARDUINO name to sell their products. They are causing confusion and that is a violation of trademark law.
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