Price transparency aside, do we really know if it’s a lot of work to ask them to waive the annual fee, or to provide a no-cost hobbies license? Why do we all assume that they intend to screw the little guy, and aren’t just a small under-resourced group who either hasn’t gotten around to hobby licenses, or hasn’t even realized it’s a thing that people want?
Edit: Kudos to the author for actually reaching out to them. I do wonder what he means by “ask for clarification”… This sounds like the kind of email I dread receiving… vague, open ended, gotta call the lawyer? Did he just ask if they could waive the fee?
> I contacted the Thread Group’s support email address on 2024-04-19 to request clarification on non-commercial Thread use.
The second one to their press team sounds super presumptuous, sorry for that, but I found that you kinda have to talk to press teams in that way if you want to get /any/ response at al.
Thanks for being so open and sharing this. I truly hope that this is an oversight on their part and not something intentional, and we're just looking for the right person who can "press the button" and grant you a license.
Looking at https://www.threadgroup.org/thread-group, it seems like they already have some access for free ("Academic" and "Associate"). I'll have to review your blog post to see if you already reviewed those and what the specific issues were.
Edit: I see you did mention their "Implementor" membership level, but I'm not sure which of thier points you need to "implement their IP" that the no-cost memberships lack... "Access to IP rights", maybe?
> Q: Is membership in the Thread Group alone, at any membership level, sufficient to gain and receive royalty-free intellectual property rights (IPR) for Thread technology? A: No, membership at any level is not sufficient to gain and receive royalty-free intellectual property rights (IPR) for Thread technology.
and an Associate membership does not apply because I am not white-labeling or rebranding existing products.
Edit: Kudos to the author for actually reaching out to them. I do wonder what he means by “ask for clarification”… This sounds like the kind of email I dread receiving… vague, open ended, gotta call the lawyer? Did he just ask if they could waive the fee?
> I contacted the Thread Group’s support email address on 2024-04-19 to request clarification on non-commercial Thread use.