Amiga.org
Amiga computer related discussion => General chat about Amiga topics => Topic started by: persia on January 07, 2008, 04:55:44 PM
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From Wikipedia:
Ownership of the Amiga line passed through several owners, from Escom of Germany in 1995, and then to U.S. PC clone maker Gateway in 1997, before being licensed an exclusive lifetime licence to Amiga, Inc., a Washington company founded by former Gateway employees Bill McEwen and Fleecy Moss in 2000. On March 15, 2004, Amiga, Inc. announced that on April 23, 2003 it had transferred its rights over past and future versions of the Amiga OS (but not over other intellectual property) to Itec, LLC, later acquired by KMOS, Inc., a Delaware company. On March 16, 2005, KMOS, Inc. announced that it had completed all registrations with the State of Delaware to change its corporate name to Amiga, Inc.
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What is the difference between owning something and having an EXCLUSIVE lifetime license?
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License might not be transferrable. :-D
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Huh? Acer is the same as Gateway these days? When did that happen?
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amigadave wrote:
What is the difference between owning something and having an EXCLUSIVE lifetime license?
Read the docs on the Novel/SCO lawsuit.
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odin wrote:
Huh? Acer is the same as Gateway these days? When did that happen?
Recently. (http://www.infoworld.com/article/07/08/27/Acer-buys-Gateway_1.html)
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If Acer does indeed own the IP, then it is Acer and not KMOS (Amiga Inc) that can file suit against IP infringement, since Acer is the injured party not Amiga Inc.
It does appear that Amiga Inc is another SCO and hopefully they will meet the same fate as SCO...
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What does lifetime mean in this context?
Is washington amiga dead or just in a coma?
I would not have thought an exclusive lifetime licence could be transfered, whether washington amiga was dead or not.
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So the Question is, does KMOS have any right to use Amiga IP, name or Trademarks? Wouldn't it be funny if the net result of their running away from creditors was the loss of the use of the Amiga name and IP!?!?!
A6000 wrote:
What does lifetime mean in this context?
Is washington amiga dead or just in a coma?
I would not have thought an exclusive lifetime licence could be transfered, whether washington amiga was dead or not.
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It would be interesting to find out if the License could be revoked without compensation if the license holder used the name for criminal activities (Voucher scam etc etc) or to bring the name into disrepute (Kent, Bolton Peck, Scams, lies etc.)
Maybe the voucher people (myself included) should file claims against Acer?
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Wouldn't it be funny if the net result of their running away from creditors was the loss of the use of the Amiga name and IP!?!?!
Yup, although I'd say more like bad karma coming back to bite them than "funny". :-) OTOH I won't actually be happy about either outcome until one or the other results in a hardware platform being sold with a supported OS....
:-? Which unfortunately doesn't seem to be "Amiga" Washington's objective at all. But it's the only way I find an excuse to spend more money on Amiga.
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From Wikipedia:
That's the first issue right there. From all what I remember, Acer never owned anything related to AI. All the research over the years shows Gateway as the owner of the patents. Amino got the hardware inventory, copyrights, trademarks, and license for hardware tech.
Dammy
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OK, and with Acer's acquisition of Gateway, it makes Acer the current owner of IP. :-P
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This is from an e-mail I was sent by someone who works for Acer, when I asked about the same issue:
"Having investigated this a bit more, it seems that Gateway sold the Amiga brand in 2000 which I’m guessing included the patent rights. I will try to get verification on this and update you ASAP."
That was from back in November, haven't heard anything since. Hope someone else gets a clearer answer.
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Yeah, the whole community should start spamming Acer asking them what their plans for revival are and what new hardware are they going to announce... :lol: like people did when Gateway bought Escom.
I would be curious to see what they come up with... :lol:
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@alenppc
I know you're only joking, but I don't think anyone expects Acer to release new Amiga hardware. However, it would be useful to know what rights they inherited to give us a clearer picture of how it affects the current AInc/Hyperion court cases.
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HenryCase:
I agree. I was merely recalling what happened when Gateway got flooded by letters after they bought Escom out. They kinda freaked out as they did not expect much or any reaction...
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alenppc wrote:
HenryCase:
I agree. I was merely recalling what happened when Gateway got flooded by letters after they bought Escom out. They kinda freaked out as they did not expect much or any reaction...
OIC. I wasn't really following Amiga stuff that closely around the time of the Gateway purchase, so I missed out on all the fun. Sorry for misjudging your intentions.