FreeCalypso hardware update

[Josh Branning]

TY for writing the letter Mychaela, takes some guts; V. appreciative, 
you are a credit to the Free Software community.

Thanks again & much appreciated,

Josh

On 06/10/18 10:04, Mychaela Falconia wrote:
> Hello FC community,
>
> I've got an update on the quest for new FreeCalypso hardware in the
> form of FCDEV3B V2 boards.  I finally got enough money (on my own, no
> one donated) to pay for the PCB fabrication step, and I just sent my
> first inquiry to pcbcart (the same Chinese PCB fab who did our FCDEV3B
> V1 boards) about making new boards from our new Gerber files, but
> keeping all of the intricate fab details (particularly the physical
> layer stackup) from our previous run almost 2 y ago.  I don't expect
> them to look at it before Monday China time, and then it will probably
> be several days of email back-and-forth to get all of the details
> squared away and nailed down before the formal go-ahead with payment,
> but at least we are moving now, rather than stalled waiting for money.
> If everything goes well, I am hoping to have our first fully assembled
> boards near the beginning of 2019.
>
> Also earlier this week I finally got our trademark registration
> certificate from USPTO, i.e., FreeCalypso is now officially a
> registered trademark owned by me, at least in USA:
>
> https://www.freecalypso.org/members/falcon/legal/fc-tm-reg-cert.pdf
>
> Over the past many months I have made it abundantly clear via many
> postings on this mailing list that the ONLY thing which FreeCalypso
> needs and lacks is money: while I have practically unlimited eagerness
> and motivation to keep working on this project, the lack of money has
> been limiting the pace at which our project progresses to slower than
> a snail.  Unfortunately there were some rogue actors who twisted the
> message in a quite perverted way: saying that they don't want to be
> dependent on me as the hardware manufacturer and supplier (they said
> they wanted to protect themselves against me losing interest in the
> project, what an insult!), instead of helping the FreeCalypso/Falconia
> family with cash donations to make our hardware, they expressed an
> intent to steal our work (as well as that of our predecessors at
> Openmoko) by making their own hardware production runs from our
> published design files, cutting our family and FreeCalypso Central
> out of the loop.  I hope that the wider FreeCalypso community will
> join me in condemning those rogue actors, and they have already been
> warned that if they sell hardware that is not physically made by
> Falconia Family under the name FreeCalypso, they will be committing
> trademark infringement.
>
> Now before anyone says that I am being hypocritical by condemning
> those people for stealing my work while I steal TI's, let me point out
> that in my formal letter to TI which I sent them near the end of
> August and to which I have not yet received any response, I offered to
> pay them a per-unit royalty for every hardware unit which I produce
> and sell with our TI-based FreeCalypso firmware.  If they do take me
> up on that offer, I will gladly pay, as I consider it a small price
> for the added legitimacy, but if they never say or write back even one
> word to me, well, I did offer to pay, so I am in my right to assume
> that they are not asking for a royalty and are perfectly OK with what
> I am doing with their software.
>
> I am also in the process of applying for an official IMEI number range
> (TAC) allocation for our FCDEV3B modems - this was my original purpose
> for going through the almost year-long USPTO trademark process, as
> every IMEI range application must be made under some registered "brand
> name", and the applicant needs to prove ownership of that brand name
> via some kind of govt-issued certificate.  If we (Falconia Family) do
> succeed in getting an official IMEI number range for our FreeCalypso
> modem products, it should be obvious that IMEI numbers out of that
> range will only be available for those physical hardware units that
> have been made and sold by Falconia Partners LLC, and not for any
> rogue cut-me-out-of-the-loop production runs.
>
> Finally, I just recently learned an interesting tidbit from a company
> that helps wireless device manufacturers get various needed regulatory
> approval certifications:
>
> https://www.7layers.com/type-approval
>
> Read what it says in the section titled "Self declaration of conformity".
> If I am reading it correctly, they say that regulatory compliance in
> EU and EFTA countries does NOT require paying an outrageous amount of
> money for an official certification test, instead if the manufacturer
> is certain that their product is compliant based on their own internal
> tests, it is sufficient for that manufacturer to make a legally binding
> self-declaration of compliance.
>
> If the above is indeed true, then it should be possible for me to make
> a sworn and notarized statement declaring that my GSM modem products
> are compliant with all applicable standards and fit for use on public
> GSM networks, and once I make that official statement, anyone residing
> in the EU (which still includes the UK, or does it not any more?)
> should then be able to use my products without any fear of legal
> trouble: in the event that a FreeCalypso modem misbehaves or disrupts
> or interferes with anything, all legal liability will be on me as the
> manufacturer who made the self-declaration of compliance, and NOT on
> you as the end user - the only thing they could make YOU do would be
> to tell you to turn the device off and not turn it back on until the
> problem is fixed.  But here comes the rub: if I do make such an
> official and legally binding self-declaration of conformance with
> radio regulations, it will once again apply only to those hardware
> units which were made and sold by me, and not any rogues.  It will
> also be limited to devices running firmware images officially released
> by me and marked as fit for production use - you are welcome to build
> and run your own fw, but then you are on your own as far as radio
> regulations go.
>
> Hasta la Victoria, Siempre,
> Mychaela aka The Mother
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