Nordic BLE DFU license/restrictions when used with other vendor MCUs

[eriknorth]

Hi,

We are working on multiple product based on different MCUs (nRF52832 and ESP32).
We would like to use the same Nordic BLE DFU for both of the products so that we would need to implement only one protocol on the Mobile App.
The BLE DFU stack on ESP32 is custom implementation and does not reuse any code from nRF SDK.

Are there any restriction for us to use the Nordic BLE DFU protocol, BLE service associated with it and the iOS/Android libraries for a different vendor MCU?

Best regards,
/Erik
 

[Kenneth]

You will need to look into the license text for each of the individual deliveries you refer to, you can find an overview here what licenses we use and their implications:

https://devzone.nordicsemi.com/nordic/nordic-blog/b/blog/posts/introducing-nordics-new-software-licensing-schemes 

[eriknorth]

Hi Kenneth,

Thanks for the answer, the link is very useful.

The unclear part now is the use of the Nordic BLE DFU protocol on other platforms without using any source code from nRF SDK which is under 5-Clause Nordic License and cannot be used on other MCUs than Nordics.

We have custom implementation of Nordic BLE DFU based on ESP-IDF and DFU protocol described here:
https://infocenter.nordicsemi.com/topic/sdk_nrf5_v17.0.0/lib_dfu_transport.html

Do we have to license the protocol or the DFU protocol can be used on other platforms too?

BR,
/Erik

[eriknorth]

Hi Kenneth,

Is there anyone with whom I could get in touch regarding this questions?

BR,
/Erik

[Kenneth]

I understand the question, but I think it will be difficult to give any clear statement. One could claim that the BLE DFU algorithm/mechanism could not be replicated independently without having the source code from the nRF5 SDK. Thereby it could be breaking the:

"4. This software, with or without modification, must only be used with a Nordic Semiconductor ASA integrated circuit."