Anyone dealing with the VID/PID issue for opensource projects?
E.g. Start a Open Serial Bus org perhaps to highjack some abandoned VID spaces?<p>--------<p>If I recall, USB-IF is pretty hostile to small players distributing only a few products like open sourced projects.<p>I wonder if there has been any progress in this matter. If not... then has there been any efforts to at least hijack a VID space from a dead company, and coordinate the distribution of the PID numbers for open sourced projects.<p>On dealing with the USB markings, is it possible to perhaps design a logo that is different enough from the logo USB, but is distinct enough to not be a legal concern?<p>If so, then we should call this logo "Open Serial Bus", maybe the shape of the logo could be a silhouette of a usb plug, but superimposed over the open hardware lock&gears.<p>----<p>While we are at it, might be also nice to provide a consistent method for non-standard signals to interface with such "Open Serial Bus" devices. E.g. I saw some phone re-purposed the micro usb connectors to enable or output TTL serial pin outs in place of D+ & D- with a special signal to the ID pin. Sounds very useful. (In that particular case, perhaps a one wire eeprom with baud rate settings might be helpful on the ID pin)<p>-------<p>Btw "Open Serial Bus" does not mean USB. It is OSB. Especially since such org cannot provide guarantees that USB-IF wouldn't do anything to cause trouble (e.g. reissuing a revoked VID/PID pair). And trademark wise, it is OSB, not USB, and thus is not likely to be confused by consumers (Especially if the logo is kept distinct).<p>You should also have a strict admittance system to ensure only open source projects are included (at the very least to reduce the incentive for USB-IF to take additional offensive measures).<p>There is precedence for this however. If you recall about i2c, other companies decide to call compatible implementations as TWI (two wire interface) to avoid paying licencing fees.<p>USB-IF will not be losing money from this however, since if you are making a normal commercial product (with sizable number of items to sell), you ought to fork up the fee to USB-IF to ensure your product is kosher anyway.<p>tl;dr: Open, but not Universal. But better than the alternative of forking up $5k for a small open source product.