Is there any legal issue on reusing a proprietary custom BLE profile?

[Fabio]

Sorry for a non-tech question. I've worked in a project using a ble module from nRF51 serie, and in this project we've implemented the suggested Nordic DFU profile described here (devzone.nordicsemi.com/.../a00081.html), the custom Nordic profile worked pretty well. I have a legacy device which uses a non-Nordic ble module, where I'd like to apply the same implementation I've done to the Nordic one, probably changing UUIDs only. My question: Is there any legal issue on reusing this DFU profile described by Nordic, keeping the same characteristics and attributes on a non-Nordic ble module?

[Håkon Alseth]

Hi Fabio,

All source files have this type of header:

/* Copyright (c) 2013 Nordic Semiconductor. All Rights Reserved. *

• The information contained herein is property of Nordic Semiconductor ASA.
• Terms and conditions of usage are described in detail in NORDIC * SEMICONDUCTOR STANDARD SOFTWARE LICENSE AGREEMENT. * * Licensees are granted free, non-transferable use of the information. NO * WARRANTY of ANY KIND is provided. This heading must NOT be removed from * the file. * */

And this points to the license located for SDK v6.1, in "...\documentation\license.txt".

Here is a small outline of the license states that you cannot use the source code in the SDK on non-nordic IC:

1. Grant of License Subject to the terms in this Agreement Nordic grants Licensee a limited, non-exclusive, non-transferable, non-sub licensable, revocable license (“License”): (a) to use the SDK as a development platform solely in connection with a Nordic Integrated Circuit (“nRF IC”), (b) to modify any source code contained in the SDK solely as necessary to implement products developed by Licensee that incorporate an nRF IC (“Licensee Product”), and (c) to distribute the SDK solely as implemented in Licensee Product. Licensee shall not use the SDK for any purpose other than specifically authorized herein.

I would strongly recommend reading the full license to understand the delivery.

Best regards, Håkon

[Fabio]

Hi Håkon, thanks for your answer, I understood the license that protects the SDK source code, and I'm accepting your answer as the right one. In fact I'm not intending to reuse/modify the SDK source code itself, the code implementation would be entirely produced by me on both sides (central and peripheral). However, I was tented to base my implementation on the same characteristics, attributes and message sequence as described on Nordic SDK DFU profile. So, worried about the "intellectual" property if it is applicable.

BR, Fabio