Re: [Libusb-devel] USB VID/PID for open source projects

[Peter S. <pe...@st...>]

Тихомиров Валентин wrote:
> I wonder why nobody so far implemented my idea - purchasing a VID
> and selling the PIDs.

Somebody has already done this, and have been stopped, because USB-IF
does not allow selling product ids.


> Texas Instruments have rejected my request telling that their
> agreement does not let them to. I suppose they refer to the VID
> ownership right, obtained from USB-IF.

TI is wrong, but I don't think you will succeed in making them change
their view. The USB-IF allows a VID holder to allocated PIDs to third
parties, but only free of charge.

The only solution is to get a VID ($2k one-time) for yourself, or to
have a group of people set up an organization solely for this purpose
and while that would not be a problem there will still always be some
strings attached. For the organization to get some traction there
will need to be an agreed-upon criteria for pid allocation. 64k is
many pids, but it's still a finite pool, and there are lots of
students who create a USB device as part of some course. The
organization also needs some kind of administration..


As for test devices I think it is very important to use different
vidpids for each actual different device. If it is not the same
design then it should not have the same vidpid IMO.


//Peter