Is the LGT8F328P legal?

Question

Since some months, everyone can buy a board with this IC.

It is compatible with the ATMega328 and has some features like 12bit ADC (instead of 10 bit), DAC, unique ID and also 32MHz.

But I can't find it in the "normal" shops. Also on the LCSC it is not available. Only in this shop: https://www.electrodragon.com/product/5pcs-logicgreen-lgt8f328p/
For 0.68$ compared to the 2$ for the atmega326P-AU of the other electronic parts shops (it is cheaper than the cheapest attiny with ADC!)

So the question. Is this chip just a clone for private use or can it be used as official alternative to the more expensive and original ATMega328?

Answer 1

Legal or not, I DO NOT reccomend this clone. It is similar and compatible to some extend but it lacks features like an EEPROM. With fuses you can only reserve some FLASH to emulate an EEPROM. Thus have less space for your code.
Also the manual is only available in chinese. There are english translations but those are hard to read as the layout got screwed up.
It has some new features that sound great but I would not see them as replacement for the ATmega328P from Atmel/Microchip.

I bought an Arduino clone with LGT8F328P by accident. I find it barely usable as there are itches here and there which I don't want to deal with.

Answer 2

As legal as any other clone CPU / MCU. See

• Intel vs The World

In short: if you copy the silicon design it's illegal. If you create it yourself from the ground up it's legal.

However, IANAL, so don't quote me on that.