Clarification on the royalty free status of TM4C (CC256XM4BTBLESW) Bluetooth stack

Jean-Christophe Billard

I all,

I have a request regarding the TI Dual mode Bluetooth stack that is provided by TI a Royality free.

It is said that : "The Bluetooth stack is fully Bluetooth Special Interest Group (SIG) qualified, certified and royalty-free, provides simple command line sample applications to speed development...". This could be interpreted as the stack is development and production royalty free.

On the other hand when we look at the terms of use in the stack license that : "Limited Source Code and Object Code Evaluation, Testing, Development and Demonstration License” (cf article 7 of "terms of use TI.pdf” which relates to the “LICENSE-AGREEMENT TI.pdf”)."

My question being that if I develop for my client a solution based on TM4C (CC256XM4BTBLESW) will he have to contact TI to negotiate a license and pay royalties per units? If so could you please provide contact to evaluate our interest to build the architecture of our solution based on this stack.

Thank you very much for your enlightenment.

Best,

over 7 years ago

0 S over 7 years ago

TI__Mastermind 35795 points

hi, pls let us know if you still need assistance with this query
Saurabh

0 Vihang Parmar over 7 years ago

TI__Mastermind 29250 points

Hi JC,

This question is addressed in the FAQ: processors.wiki.ti.com/.../CC256x_Forum_Guidelines_and_FAQs

Best regards,
Vihang

0 Jean-Christophe Billard over 7 years ago in reply to Vihang Parmar

Intellectual 730 points

Hi Vihang,

I have been in touch with several people at TI that indeed confirmed the royalty free status of the Bluetooth stack. I concur with all the element that I have been specified. However, my client is not confortable with the fact that no specific licence attached with the present software is provided.

Can TI provide a dedicated licensing document that specified those terms, despite a simple claimer on the download page?

Let say in other worlds: if tomorrow, you people decided to no longer provide the same stack as royalty free, what would be our guaranty that we own the rights to industrialize the solution through the royalty free condition?
Knowing that the Bluetopia stack has been bought by Qualcomm (through the Stonestreet One M&A), this is probably a legitimate point.

Thank you for your clarity.
Best regards,

JC

0 Vihang Parmar over 7 years ago in reply to Jean-Christophe Billard

TI__Mastermind 29250 points

Jean,

The complete clickwrap license agreement is included in the installer (.exe) file for the SDK that is downloaded from ti.com and it is not on the download page. This is how all the SW licenses are delivered. The installer will ask the user to agree to the license only then the SDK will be installed.

Does this address your concern?

Best regards,
Vihang

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Clarification on the royalty free status of TM4C (CC256XM4BTBLESW) Bluetooth stack