4 ms·

Since it's very much based on Commodore's design the copyright situation seems very uncertain. The author himself seems to doubt that he can claim copyright.

by progre 7y ago

pbhjpbhj 7y ago
Copyright situations seem pretty unclear wrt tech in general, in my personal opinion. The OP have to place certain components for interop based on technical restrictions, other details are bound by the form factor of the components themselves. In theory none of that can be covered by copyright (nor design rights) because it's primarily technical, not artistic in nature. You should be able to copy nearly all of a circuit board copyright free, only the artistic elements (logos, say) being reserved (and trademarks are probably the main restriction there). Patents can't encumber this. So, really Commodore's devices _should_ be free to make technical duplicates of. YMMV.
- sitkack 7y ago
  Any patents on the A500 would have expired by now. IANAL, but what would stop someone from making a working clone and selling it?
  - pbhjpbhj 7y ago
    Firmware. You can make the cloned circuit, but ROMs you'd need to have license for, I expect (this is not legal advice, it is personal opinion and shouldn't be relied on). So _working_ clones might be off the cards. In USA you can likely dump a ROM from an original board, and that might even not be copyright in some jurisdictions under right-to-repair or similar legislation. In UK it's more than likely tortuous without a license to copy to the new board; we don't have Fair Use [and] don't have rights to format shift or backup. Fair Use can work for commercial goods, but rarely does AFAIK (from reading caselaw).
miohtama 7y ago
How would be the company that can sue or grant a license? Commodore has bankrupted (many times)?
- icedchai 7y ago
  The Amiga IP has been sold and resold many times. Some organization still owns the Amiga IP. (Does anyone know who?) There is a danger of them coming out of the woodwork and causing problems, I guess.
  - AaronM 7y ago
    Wikipedia claims that Gateway owns the patents, or whoever owns Gateway now. Cloanto owns the copywright's. All Amiga related rights were transferred in 2019 from Amiga, Inc to C-A Acquisition Corporation owned by a director of Cloanto. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amiga,_Inc https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amiga,_Inc.
    - nobleach 7y ago
      Back in the day, Cloanto marketed a branded version of WinUAE with the Kickstart ROMs and OS and all that. I remember always wondering if it was worth buying.
      - icedchai 7y ago
        I think they still do... It's called "Amiga Forever": https://amigaforever.com/ https://amigaforever.com/
  - rbanffy 7y ago
    > There is a danger of them coming out of the woodwork and causing problems That's probably one of the very few ways to make a lot of money out of Amiga IP.

Since it's very much based on Commodore's design the copyright situation seems very uncertain. The author himself seems to doubt that he can claim copyright.

by progre 7y ago

Since it's very much based on Commodore's design the copyright situation seems very uncertain. The author himself seems to doubt that he can claim copyright.

pbhjpbhj 7y ago

Copyright situations seem pretty unclear wrt tech in general, in my personal opinion. The OP have to place certain components for interop based on technical restrictions, other details are bound by the form factor of the components themselves. In theory none of that can be covered by copyright (nor design rights) because it's primarily technical, not artistic in nature. You should be able to copy nearly all of a circuit board copyright free, only the artistic elements (logos, say) being reserved (and trademarks are probably the main restriction there). Patents can't encumber this. So, really Commodore's devices _should_ be free to make technical duplicates of. YMMV.

sitkack 7y ago
Any patents on the A500 would have expired by now. IANAL, but what would stop someone from making a working clone and selling it?
- pbhjpbhj 7y ago
  Firmware. You can make the cloned circuit, but ROMs you'd need to have license for, I expect (this is not legal advice, it is personal opinion and shouldn't be relied on). So _working_ clones might be off the cards. In USA you can likely dump a ROM from an original board, and that might even not be copyright in some jurisdictions under right-to-repair or similar legislation. In UK it's more than likely tortuous without a license to copy to the new board; we don't have Fair Use [and] don't have rights to format shift or backup. Fair Use can work for commercial goods, but rarely does AFAIK (from reading caselaw).

miohtama 7y ago

How would be the company that can sue or grant a license? Commodore has bankrupted (many times)?

icedchai 7y ago
The Amiga IP has been sold and resold many times. Some organization still owns the Amiga IP. (Does anyone know who?) There is a danger of them coming out of the woodwork and causing problems, I guess.
- AaronM 7y ago
  Wikipedia claims that Gateway owns the patents, or whoever owns Gateway now. Cloanto owns the copywright's. All Amiga related rights were transferred in 2019 from Amiga, Inc to C-A Acquisition Corporation owned by a director of Cloanto. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amiga,_Inc https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amiga,_Inc.
  - nobleach 7y ago
    Back in the day, Cloanto marketed a branded version of WinUAE with the Kickstart ROMs and OS and all that. I remember always wondering if it was worth buying.
    - icedchai 7y ago
      I think they still do... It's called "Amiga Forever": https://amigaforever.com/ https://amigaforever.com/
- rbanffy 7y ago
  > There is a danger of them coming out of the woodwork and causing problems That's probably one of the very few ways to make a lot of money out of Amiga IP.