What Should Kickstarter Do?

There’s a brewing dispute over a $157,571 fully backed Kickstarter “smARtDUINO: Open System by former ARDUINO’s manufacturer”. The Arduino team just posted some of the issues up on their site (check out the comments as well). Some trademark, some are about who/what may have, or may not have worked with the Arduino factory, and how this Kickstarter campaign was promoted to its backers. The big question is: what should Kickstarter do?

Last week, Kickstarter was named in a patent suit with Formlabs. Should backers be notified when there is a legal dispute?

The Arduino team did contact Kickstarter. Here was their response.

Thanks for writing in and bringing this to our attention. This is a matter that must be taken up directly with the project creator. You can contact them by clicking “Contact me” on the project page.

Best,
Kickstarter”

Kickstarter is fueling so many great projects, at the same time, they’ve revamped the expectations on what project creators need to provide. How should Kickstarter address this issue?

When I first saw “smARtDUINO: Open System by former ARDUINO’s manufacturer,” I assumed this was someone who worked with Arduino closely in Italy. Specifically it says “For years we manufactured the ARDUINO in Italy”. smARtDUINO just posted a response on their site.

I’m writing this up as post-in-progress and will update it over time with any additional details. Please post up in the comments with your opinions on what Kickstarter should do.

Update: Pictured above, one of the issues in dispute – smARtDUINO with Arduino(TM) on the board(s). The smARtDUINO creator is posting up in the comments here now as well.

Related:
Why the Arduino Won and Why It’s Here to Stay
How Open Source Hardware is Kick-Starting Kickstarter!