SD card licensing and royalties

SD card licensing and royalties#8662

By highlander - Mon Dec 19, 2005 10:55 pm

- Mon Dec 19, 2005 10:55 pm #8662

Does anyone know if there are any licensing/royalty issues if you include a secure digital card in your project? What about if you market your product without an SD card installed? Does that count as a "host adapter" that must be licensed?

#8664

By jayjay - Tue Dec 20, 2005 5:22 am

- Tue Dec 20, 2005 5:22 am #8664

I am not very certain on this, but I would think if your product intents to use the SD/miniSD compatible logo you would need to be the SD Card forum member paying annual dues. I think this info is on their site. Its pretty much the same for USB.

HTH
Jay

#8665

By highlander - Tue Dec 20, 2005 5:45 am

- Tue Dec 20, 2005 5:45 am #8665

Thanks, jayjay- I know I need to pay if I use the logo. I was wondering if I need to pay fees if I'm just using the SD card internally for memory (I don't even care if it's removable or not).

#8666

By jayjay - Tue Dec 20, 2005 6:20 am

- Tue Dec 20, 2005 6:20 am #8666

Hmm this is an interesting situation, I presume you just want a cheap removable storage. If you used the SD card either internally or externally, then the card manufacturere has already paid the dues. The only issue left is would you need to pay for putting in a SD card connector in your product? I think if you dont need a logo, you could get away without the fees. I have seen a lot of such products that carry "Fabrique De China" label not having a SD compatible logo, but they do work very well with SD/MMC cards.

HTH
Jay

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