• State Verified Answer
  • Locked Locked
  • Replies 11 replies
  • Subscribers 62 subscribers
  • Views 9617 views
  • Users 0 members are here
Attachments (0)
Nordic Case Info
  • Case ID: 101644
Options
This post is older than 2 years and might not be relevant anymore
More Info: Consider searching for newer posts
This discussion has been locked.
You can no longer post new replies to this discussion. If you have a question you can start a new discussion

Is BLE changing licensing policy?

Martin

Sorry for the non-tech. question but I just heard that BlueTooth group is significantly changing BLE licensing policy. Maybe it's some kind of FUD but it should be mandatory to pay a thousands of $ for BLE licensing fee (BLE patents) per one developed device model that is using a BLE module and going to the market. Even the definition of own attributes (UUIDS) would be charged. Is it true? If so, it's going to kill all start-up projects and projects not intended to sell high volumes of BLE enabled devices...

  • 0

    And where would you have heard such a thing?

  • 0

    A colleague told me, he received some email with PDF from Bluetooth SIG. One is titled "LISTING PROCESS–NEW IN FEBRUARY 2014" talking about some declaration process where "With this update, we are discontinuing the QDID fee and introducing a new listing fee—either USD 8,000 or USD 4,000 depending on membership level —and issuing a Declaration ID as your proof of purchase." and second document "FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS ABOUT THE UPDATED QUALIFICATION AND LISTING PROCESS" I don't have time to read them yet, I'm working on programming...

  • 0

    It is true that February brought a new process for qualification, and it is no longer possible to qualify a Bluetooth product without paying any fees, as it was previously.

    I'd recommend you to go through and read the information that's available on Bluetooth SIG's web site, for example here and here. There will probably be an update to our qualification whitepaper, but this isn't quite ready yet.

    The cheapest way is to be a part of the Innovation Incentive Program, in which case a listing is $2,500, but have certain restrictions on company revenue and number of designs. For regular Adopters, the price is $8000, while for Associates, the price is $4000.

  • 0

    Is there really not some exclusion for low-volume production? E.g. if we make some special sensor with BLE that will be produced let's say in only 100 pieces, then price of licence significantly affect price of the device. Or if someone will come with some startup project making small first batch of devices then license price will block selling it and spreading it out. This makes a huge advantage for big companies that can start produce with high volumes where the fee become negligible and make disadvantage for small companies. I think it will lead to creating new license-free technology as an alternative for BLE. Maybe it will be enough to use alternative stack like Gasell or something else on existing hardware if HW is not covered by Bluetooth SIG patents...

  • 0 in reply to Martin

    There is currently no way to avoid this fee if you want to qualify your design and use the Bluetooth logo and similar in marketing, no matter how low-volume your product is. You can choose to not qualify your product, but the legal implications of doing so is not clear.

    I do see your arguments, but this is the way it is, so I'm afraid I can't do much about it.

    Since this fee is for Bluetooth qualification, it doesn't affect devices using proprietary protocols in any way.

Related