Trademark & Copyright

Trademark

Arduino holds a number of trademarks such as, but not limited to, the word Arduino and the official logos as seen above.

We frequently receive questions about the usage of our trademarks in a number of different applications. In order to support the Arduino community to make fair use of our name, logo and other trademarks we have gathered general information on this page. In addition you may find several articles on this topic in the Arduino Help Center. You can also contact us with specific questions or concerns.

It is a common misunderstanding that since Arduino technology is open source, the name and logo can also be used freely, but that is not the case. Anyone is allowed to copy and to further develop an Arduino open source hardware design into their own product as long as they use their own brand name and logo for this product.

The Arduino software may be further developed and redistributed according to the included open source software license. Sale of derivative software or its inclusion in commercial products is not prohibited, but it may require modifications in order to be open sourced under the same license. Also concerning software derivatives, the Arduino trademarks should not be used in the name or logotype.

The Arduino Community is a great contributor in sharing knowledge and awareness about Arduino. We are happy and thankful for the support from the community and we welcome initiatives such as courses, books, blogs, events and exhibitions. Just pay attention to the details in the trademark usage guide outlined below.

You may

• Use the word Arduino (or any other wordmark being a trademark of Arduino) when referring to or describing an Arduino product.
• Use the word Arduino (or any other wordmark being a trademark of Arduino) to indicate that a third party product is compatible with or based on Arduino technology.
  • In these cases the Arduino trademark should follow a referential phrase such as “compatible with”, “for” or “with”.
• Use the Arduino logotype(s) in relation to sales of Arduino products.
• Use the Arduino logotype(s) when needed for descriptive or explanatory purposes, for instance in different kinds of publications.

You may not

• Use a trademark of Arduino as part of a company name or logo.
• Use a trademark of Arduino on a third party product.
• Include a trademark of Arduino in a domain name for a web page of commercial character.
• Use a trademark of Arduino in a way that creates a false impression that your product or business is endorsed, sponsored by or associated with Arduino.
• Manufacture, sell or give away merchandise goods bearing a trademark of Arduino.
• Use a trademark of Arduino on trade shows or events without prior consent by Arduino.
• Use a name or logo which is so similar to a trademark of Arduino that it may confuse or mislead people into thinking that your business, products or services is official Arduino or made in association with Arduino.
• Use the Arduino logo to identify a publication.
• Use the Arduino logo to identify non-commercial content e.g. community groups or blogs.
  • In this case you may use the Arduino Community Logo.

Use Case Table

The table below is illustrative, it does not intend to cover all trademark usage scenarios, but it reflects the most common questions we receive on this topic. Also in the scenarios below there may be nuances depending on the situation, for any uncertainties please contact us and we will explain what applies in your specific scenario.

Copyright Notice

Editorial contents of the arduino.cc website, such as texts and photos, are released as Creative Commons Attribution ShareAlike 3.0.

This means you can use them on your own derived works, in part or completely, as long as you also adopt the same license. You can find the complete text of the license here.