Commercial or Educational License required to update an educational product available through a contract manufacturer?

[jbarte11]

I am currently working on modifying an existing product used by educators with a new sensor and I have a few related questions on how the educational EAGLE license works and I'd just like to get some confirmation:

This project has been open sourced and is freely available to other educators. However, we also have worked with a contract manufacturer to build units so that other educators can purchase them.

1. If our CM sells this design at cost, earning no profit on its sale and generating no revenue for us, would this fall under the educational license?
2. If we do not earn any money on the sale of this product, but our CM earns a profit on the boards, I assume this would require a commercial license. Am I correct?
3. If the original design was done on a commercial license, can we update this design on an educational license and continue its sale or do we need a commercial license to make this change?
4. If we've updated the design using an educational license, is it sufficient to generate the Gerbers using a commercial license to sell it? How can I tell that the design I have is cleared for commercial use?

Much appreciated!

[jorge_garcia]

Hello @jbarte11,

I hope this message finds you well. I've asked for guidance in order to make sure you get the right answers to your questions. 

I'll get back to you once I have more info.

Best Regards,

[jorge_garcia · Accepted solution]

Hi @jbarte11,

Thank you again for reaching out to make sure you are in compliance. In short, the EDU entitlement is only meant for teaching and learning Fusion 360, anything outside of that requires a commercial entitlement. So in short the answer to all your questions is that you need a commercial entitlement. See this page for more information

https://www.autodesk.com/company/terms-of-use/en/offering-types-and-benefits#education

Here are some key excerpts

• Educator Users may only use an Education Offering for purposes related to learning, teaching, or research and development as part of the instructional functions performed by a Qualified Educational Institution or an Other Authorized Education User. 
• Free Autodesk software and/or cloud-based services are subject to acceptance of and compliance with the terms and conditions of the terms of use and/or other terms that accompany such software or cloud-based services.  Software and cloud-based services subject to an Educational license or subscription may be used by eligible users solely for Educational Purposes and shall not be used for commercial, professional or any other for-profit purposes.

Let me know if you have any other questions or concerns.

Best Regards,

[jbarte11]

Hi Jorge,

I appreciate the reply. However, I'd still like to clear a few things.

This project does fall under the purview of "learning, teaching, or research and development as part of the instructional functions performed by a Qualified Educational Institution". So we do meet the license requirement in that part.

As for "shall not be used for commercial, professional or any other for-profit purposes.": I doubt that it is sold for a profit by the developing institution, however the contract manufacturer likely charges a premium for their troubles. I will ask. Is profit the only concern here? i.e. should we organize a deal where the device is sold at-cost would that be sufficient?

That does open another question though, what if we don't have a contract manufacturer but then someone else takes our design and produces it. How does that work out license wise? I assume the educational license allows for open-sourcing, so would the party producing and selling these be violating the license despite never agreeing to it?

Lastly, should we determine that a commercial license is indeed needed, how do I apply it to this project? Is it sufficient to generate Gerbers with the commercial license?

[jbarte11]

Hi Jorge,

Upon a closer reading of your reply I think this part covers the crux of my question: "the EDU entitlement is only meant for teaching and learning Fusion 360".

Despite being used to design something for an educational setting - our project is not tied to teaching people the ins and outs of EAGLE. So we need the commercial license. I will relay this to the team and we'll consider whether to buy an EAGLE license or convert this project to KiCAD.