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name and/or our product name on it. Or worse, cases where complete derivatives
were made where nothing *except* our trademark was kept onboard. As a busi-
ness based around OSHW, we don't want to play the “bad guys” telling off these
people, but derivatives like this are very bad for us and the rest of the OSHW com-
munity.” (Evil Mad Scientist Laboratories)
A brand is a communication asset, and open source is all about communication. If you
share design files and emit resources of great quality, you will gain attention and build up
your brand. Deliver good quality and engage in reliable and valuable connections with
others, and many people will prefer to buy from you and collaborate with you.
“Find some way to make your offering unique. Sometimes it feels that this industry
is a race to the bottom; many manufacturers are essentially making different ver-
sions of the same thing—the massive success of Chinese companies on eBay and
their free shipping is one example. In this day and age OSHW companies have got
to concentrate on the “value add”—why should people purchase products from
you over someone else?” (Parallax, profitable, revenue of $9 million in 2013)
“Trademarks create a brand, the brand is how you produce value. Trademarks are
not covered by Open Source licenses so they remain your property. It is a rather
easy process to file a trademark. Generally speaking, they are inexpensive com-
pared to patents registration, and you can file one for about $300 in the US,
800Euro in Europe.” (Lasersaur, profitable)
“Basically, what we have is the brand,” says Tom Igoe, an associate professor at
the Interactive Telecommunications Program at New York University, who joined
Arduino in 2005. “And brand matters.” (quoted in Wired magazine 16.11, October
20, 2008, “Build It, Share It Profit” by Clive Thompson on the first three years of
Arduino)
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