Amiga.org
Amiga computer related discussion => General chat about Amiga topics => Topic started by: motorollin on January 13, 2008, 09:21:31 PM
-
... and I mean properly bankrupt, not just selling the company to themselves, what would happen to their IP? Would they be forced to sell it? Or would it go further in to limbo? Or would they forfeit it altogether?
--
moto
-
Is this a question, or a dream? :-D
-
I'm no lawyer, but I suspect it would be put up for sale with all the other assets (if any) of the company in order to settle debts.
-
AFAIK Amiga,Inc don't own the rights, they have a lifetime exclusive agreement to use them.
If Amiga,Inc were to go into Chapter 11, I would speculate that maybe Acer would be free to re-assign the Amiga rights to another licencee.
-
@Caius
It's both ;-)
@amigakit
Interesting. I wonder what Acer want with the Amiga IP?!
--
moto
-
amigakit wrote:
Amiga,Inc dont own the rights, they have a lifetime agreement to use them.
If Amiga,Inc were to go into Chapter 11, I would speculate that maybe Acer would be free to re-assign the Amiga rights to another licencee.
That refers to the IP... patents etc... I do believe that Amiga Inc. own the trademarks... in which case, they would be sold like any other asset...
-
motorollin wrote:
@amigakit
Interesting. I wonder what Acer want with the Amiga IP?!
--
moto
They picked them up when they bought Gateway... given that most of the patents have either expired or will expire soon... I imagine they have no interest what so ever :-)
Lest ye not forget that with projects like Minimig/CloneA/AROS the IP is totally valueless.
-
The IP they hold would be put up for auction with the rest of the company's assets in order to pay out the liabilities, as much as possible.
Really doesn't matter. The community has been and currently is reverse engineering that IP or reinventing it through different implimentations. In the end we, the community, will take control of the platform. Where we go from there, is up to us.
-
@ Argo
True, but what a shame there wasn`t SOMEONE who could do it right. To quote a well known phrase - "We made it, they {bleep}ed it up"
-
AFAIK Amiga,Inc don't own the rights, they have a lifetime exclusive agreement to use them.
AFAIR, AI owns trademarks, copyrights, existing stock and has access to the patents that Gateway (since I believe Acer has yet to consolidate their Gateway purchase offer) owns from Amiga Inc/Tech. Question is are you talking Amino, Itec, or Amiga Inc DE? Like Pentti will ever allow IP to slip through his fingers is laughable.
Dammy
-
Do the have any real access to the IP? Remember KMOS/Amiga Inc has told it's creditors that the Amiga Inc that signed the lifetime access deal with Gateway IS A DIFFERENT COMPANY.
In reality all rights to the IP have returned to Acer, Amiga inc is a shill. If the Amiga Inc that signed the lifetime agreement with Acer/Gateway is still alive the creditors need to know about it...
-
Do the have any real access to the IP? Remember KMOS/Amiga Inc has told it's creditors that the Amiga Inc that signed the lifetime access deal with Gateway IS A DIFFERENT COMPANY.
Which bought assets from (now) Amino for debts owed to them. At the VERY worst, they no longer have access to the patents, the very few that still remain under the twenty year patents limits. I highly doubt they have screwed the deal up between themselves and Gateway and unless you have solid proof it was not transferrable, your wasting everyone's time.
In reality all rights to the IP have returned to Acer,
Ah, last I heard, the deal for Gateway was on hold. Has Acer actually bought Gateway. And please show us all where such a deal, in case law, voids previous contracts that have been fullfilled?
Amiga inc is a shill
Been saying that for years, but you probably thouht I was a nasty troll back then, true?
If the Amiga Inc that signed the lifetime agreement with Acer/Gateway is still alive the creditors need to know about it...
McBill was jointly held responsible for damages against Bolton and he personally needs to be hounded by Bolton and others to pay his personal share.
So when Hyperion signed that deal with Itec for transferring ownership of source code and object codes of third party developers and recieved their $25K, why aren't they being hounded on here for fraud?
Dammy
-
I wish they would all go out of business, then all effort would go to the Homebrew projects like AROS, minimig,etc....
-
We would see no more of AmigaAnywhere, as none of the "Hard Core" amiga companies are interessted, if not for anything just to buy it to bury it.
We'd se BBRV, DiscreteFX, ACube, Hyperion and possably other players either competing or joining in a partnership to aquire the IP.
BBRV said in the heat of the battle one time that they are not interested anymore. DiscreteFX has given up on having a conversation with Amiga INC.
It could also possably be that these actors would completely ignore buying it from the trustees of the bankruptcy, and maybe approach Acer directly for the IP and techs.
If that is legally viable. One could end up with a divided license situation. One exclusive lifetime right coming out of the old Amiga INC, and one new from Acer...
And also, the ones who buy the IPs from A INC would inherit a lawsuit with Hyperion, which doesn't go away by it self even if AINC would fold.
So the conclusion seems to me that Hyperion would celebrate. And probably with ACube rule the new Amiga world. And the blue camp would shrug and perhaps rejoice a little as well.
DISCLAIMER
These guesses are made on the basis of having watched a lot of legal tv (LA LAW, Boston Legal, Ally McBeal etc :-))
-
Warning: Complete sidetrack follows...
I wonder how much hate mail Bill receives per week.
-
Getting back to the headline:
If AInc went bankrupt...
.......would anyone notice or care? :-D
-
Nobody would care if they did kick the bucket, i would be glad if something good can happen to Amiga OS 4.x
And at this point the situation could not be any worse.
-
PPC wrote:
Nobody would care if they did kick the bucket, i would be glad if something good can happen to Amiga OS 4.x
worse.
And Hyperion?
-
Someone could buy their IP and sue left & right (SCO style).
So it could get worse.
Another approach is to convince Acer (or whoever else have the
IP) to grant another license. And take the lawsuit from Amiga Inc as cost of business. One could speculate aswell that a lawsuit would break them financially before they would gain anything.
-
Another approach is to convince Acer (or whoever else have the IP) to grant another license. And take the lawsuit from Amiga Inc as cost of business.
It must have been Gateway who made the original contract with then Amiga Inc.
I'm sure they were paranoid enough to put in some provisions in the contract so that they could revoke it or divert from the terms if they like.
Like for instance behaviour that devalues (then) Gateways property, the IP. So then Acer could argue that a lot of people at various forums are angry with them, and that to limit (further) damage to the Amiga trademarks and IPs they (revoke and?) grant a new license to Hyperion, ACube and DiscreteFX.
It would be interesting what such a scenario would do to AINC and the court case. This could perhaps happen without AINC going bankrupt.
"All it would take" was the three mentioned companies being willing to put in the effort, and Acer to be willing to listen.
-
Yeah, I suppose, given that anything before 1988 is dead in patent terms - that doesn't leave much, if anything, of the original companies IP. What, legally, is left to stop a company from producing a box that will run Amiga OS?
-
like the Draco??
-
:idea:
Once there was the Minimig.... Now, there's the DinkyDraco! :lol:
-
When the patents expire, it might be possible for third parties to build new amiga compatible hardware, they could not call them amigas but people will know what they are capable of.
So, does AInc have the right to say that amigaOS must not be used on new amiga compatible hardware?
I know they could engineer a version of amigaOS so it would not run on certain hardware, but can they say older versions must not be used on these new compatibles?
-
I know they could engineer a version of amigaOS so it would not run on certain hardware, but can they say older versions must not be used on these new compatibles?
IFAIK, In the USA they now can change their licensing for classic Amiga OS and stop people doing this in their own home with legally bought AmigaOS and minimig.
In the EU they could theoretically stop bundled sales but, unlike the USA, we can still fiddle and tinker with our own stuff in the comfort of our homes without being accused of being criminals. :-)