USB ID - How do you avoid paying the fee...

You could buy a PID from this guy:

*-make-one-up+buy-*-*-PIDs-from-this-guy-*+zz-zz+*-official-way+cheaper.alternative+pay.the.USB.folks.a.lot.of.money+*-*-for-limited-distribution+*-*-vendor-and-product-IDs ( news: snipped-for-privacy@4ax.com )

*-USB-Vendor-ID+mecanique.co.uk ( news:whUli.36614$ snipped-for-privacy@read2.cgocable.net news: snipped-for-privacy@mid.individual.net )

If it's a serial port device you can just keep using the FTDI number (or whoever's number it uses)

Pick any number you want to use just don't advertise it as USB compatible.

Bye. Jasen

Idiot, and a theif.

--
http://improve-usenet.org/index.html

aioe.org, Goggle Groups, and Web TV users must request to be white
listed, or I will not see your messages.

If you have broadband, your ISP may have a NNTP news server included in
your account: http://www.usenettools.net/ISP.htm


There are two kinds of people on this earth:
The crazy, and the insane.
The first sign of insanity is denying that you\'re crazy.

Sale is suspended:

But I think I need only one of the 10 PIDs, which I've bought, because I can write an universal driver, which detects the device by the device id string, so I've setup a registration list and resale 7 of my PIDs (I keep 3 PIDs for me, just in case my driver idea doesn't work :-)

Send me an eMail, you can pay by Paypal (or bank transfer in Germany), price is 10 EUR for one PID. I can add you as anonymous to the list or with your name.

--
Frank Buss, fb@frank-buss.de
http://www.frank-buss.de, http://www.it4-systems.de

Michael A. Terrell wrote:

Get back on your meds.

It really bugs me how "Intellectual Property" law has become so corrupted and how we've all turned into sheep, cowering to a presumed everything-requires-permission regime.

The OP said he _might_ want to sell it. If that case *does* come to pass, it *would* be short-sighted _not_ to purchase a registered number (so customers won't ever encounter a conflict).

In the meantime, it is perfectly legit to assign your own ID

--with caveats for anyone who uses the item. (A proper label would be

**This device DOES NOT have a registered USB ID number.**)

In theory one PID would be sufficient for all devices, even from different companies, at least for HID devices, which don't need a driver. Then you can enumerate it like this:

and just compare to the one and only VID/PID, the ManufacturerString and ProductString.

--
Frank Buss, fb@frank-buss.de
http://www.frank-buss.de, http://www.it4-systems.de

FTDI will give you 8 pids to use with their vid for free ...

-Lasse

I received a unique PID from Silicon Laboratories when I was planning to use their CP2103 usb to serial bridge IC. Then I decided to use a Microchip USB PIC18F2450, and I received a PID from them. I think the volume is restricted to several hundred devices. I don't know if this option is still available. I got the one from Silabs several years ago with no problems, but the one from Microchip about a year ago was delayed until it passed through their legal department. If you can use either of these devices in your design, you might be OK. I think TI also has a sub-licensing arangement for their USB devices.

Paul

If the O.P. only intends to use the device with regular "COM port"-type programs, this is a good idea. However, as soon as you start using the "extended feature set" of the FTDI chips, you really should get your own PID since occasionally FTDI breaks compatibility from driver revision to revision when it comes to "extended features" (whereas the "COM port" stuff always keeps on working, although newer FTDI drivers are generally more stable than the older ones in this regard), so with your own PID you can make sure that (by deault) Windows installs the version of the driver you tested your widget with.

FTDI will give you a block of PIDs free for the asking for use with their ICs.

This a very unfriendly thing to do -- you risk causing your end-users as well as other companies lots of grief if you "step on" a VID/PID combination already in use.

---Joel