manufacturing and education founded 2003 headquarters niwot colorado united states key people ceo glenn samala 2016 present 1 nathan seidle 2003 2016 2 number of employees 150 2015 3 slogan sharing ingenuity website sparkfun.com sparkfun electronics sometimes known by its abbreviation sfe is an electronics retailer in niwot colorado united states . it manufactures and sells microcontroller development boards and breakout boards . all products designed and produced by sparkfun are released as open source hardware . contents 1 history 2 open source hardware 3 contests 3.1 antimov 3.2 avc 4 projects 5 legal disputes 5.1 trademark dispute with sparc international 5.2 fluke trademark infringement 6 see also 7 references 8 external links history edit sparkfun electronics was founded in 2003 by nathan seidle . its first products were olimex printed circuit boards . 4 the name sparkfun came about because one of the founders of sparkfun was testing a development board and sparks flew out ; fun was chosen because the company s self stated aim is to educate people about electronics . in january 2011 an education department was formed to outreach to local schools hackerspaces and events . open source hardware edit during the open source hardware summit in october 2010 sparkfun was one of the contributors in drafting the first oshw definition . 5 6 all products designed and produced by sparkfun are released as open source hardware oshw 7 with schematics eagle files and datasheets posted on each product page . product images are licensed under the creative commons by nc sa 3.0 8 contests edit antimov edit this contest was based upon violating the 2nd and 3rd laws of robotics where a fully automated robot would destroy itself after interacting with props and objects in a performance . the competition was retired in 2011 . 9 10 11 avc edit the autonomous vehicle challenge is a recurring contest held annually by sparkfun . the objective is to build an automated vehicle that can circumnavigate a course without human interaction . as of 2015 aerial vehicles are not allowed . 12 13 14 projects edit sparkfun has become one of the favoured suppliers for those without mainstream suppliers as well as the increasingly popular maker community particularly for the arduino and related devices . 15 whilst many of the non component products sold by sfe are from other manufacturers it does manufacture and sell some of its own complete products the port o rotary phone 16 picture frame tetris 17 giant nes controller legal disputes edit trademark dispute with sparc international edit on october 16 2009 sparc international sent a cease and desist letter demanding sparkfun stop using the sparkfun name and immediately transfer ownership of sparkfun.com to sparc international . the letter claimed the sparkfun trademark was too visually and phonetically similar for companies in the same industry . 18 19 the two companies signed a trademark coexistence agreement on april 2 2010 . 20 fluke trademark infringement edit on march 7 2014 u.s. customs and border protection informed sparkfun that a shipment of multimeters meant for sale on sparkfun s website had been seized . the port of denver deemed that the yellow protective jackets on the imported multimeters too closely resembled the trade dress of fluke corporation s competing multimeters . rather than pay the cost of shipping the imported multimeters back sparkfun chose to have them destroyed . 21 in a letter to sparkfun fluke announced that they would be supplying the company with a shipment of genuine fluke products and equipment as a gesture of goodwill and support for the maker movement which sparkfun accepted . 22 see also edit digi key mouser electronics adafruit industries jameco electronics element14 references edit https www.sparkfun.com news 2162 http www.youtube.com watch v jb27my5qxwe https www.sparkfun.com static about history of sparkfun electronics . seidle nate . open source hardware . sparkfun electronics . retrieved 30 april 2012 . grady emcee . oshw definition v1 .0 . sparkfun electronics . retrieved 30 april 2012 . ellzey curtis . sparkfun electronics and open source hardware . engineering tv . retrieved 30 april 2012 . clark chris . open source all the things . sparkfun electronics . retrieved 30 april 2012 . grady emcee . antimov . sparkfun electronics . retrieved 30 april 2012 . riddle warren . self destructing robot carnage at the antimov competition . switched . retrieved 2 may 2012 . https www.sparkfun.com products retired 9975 grady emcee . announcing the 2012 autonomous vehicle competition . sparkfun electronics . retrieved 30 april 2012 . olsen anton 14 march 2011 . sparkfun to host 3rd annual autonomous vehicle competition . wired . retrieved 2 may 2012 . https www.sparkfun.com news 1751 noble joshua 2009 . programming interactivity . o reilly . p. 399 . isbn 0 596 15414 3 . biggs john august 24 2006 . answer the phone and amaze your friends . the new york times . retrieved 2008 11 21 . yamamoto mike may 13 2007 . a wall version of tetris for the ultimate fan . crave . cnet . retrieved 2008 11 21 . seidle nate . sparkfun gets a cease and desist letter . sparkfun . retrieved 8 january 2016 . marco meg . trademark wars sparc international tells small electronics website to stop existing . consumerist . retrieved 8 january 2016 . seidle nate . coexistence agreement in place . sparkfun . retrieved 8 january 2016 . https www.sparkfun.com news 1428 fluke responds to trademark problems news sparkfun electronics . www.sparkfun.com . retrieved 2015 12 07 . external links edit sparkfun retrieved from https en.wikipedia.org w index.php title sparkfun electronics & oldid 734920064 categories electronic component distributorscompanies based in boulder coloradocompanies based in coloradoonline retailers of the united statesprivately held companies based in coloradoopen source hardware navigation menu personal tools not logged intalkcontributionscreate 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