Distribution Licence For Workbench...

[Franko]

Ok... as I reckon after trying to contact the various companies that allegedly hold the rights to distribute the various Workbench Disk Sets and not receiving one dicky bird or even one iota of a response from any of them in regard to purchasing a licence that would allow me to legally distribute "Workbench" freely online via my websites. then...

It's time for me to go ahead and place them openly on the homepage of CommodoreScotland.com...

So why am I posting this here, well for a number of reasons...

1) Firstly (before I do so) to see if anyone here knows of any company that I should still try to contact to obtain a licence who they think may genuinely be able to sell or issue me with such a licence/rights...

2) To ask the site owners here (and the mods), please do not to remove my CommodoreScotland.com link in my signature again WHEN I make the Workbench disk sets available for download on my site under the claims that this is piracy. As I have done all that I can to legally obtain a distribution licence from all alleged owners. If the so called owners or whomever still allegedly has the rights to either sell/issue or deny me a distribution licence fail to respond to all contact I have tried to make then I can only reasonably assume that they don't have the rights to sell me such a licence or don't care that I distribute them...

3) To let the copyright mafia that lurk about this site know that if you have any complaints about me doing this then please do not complain to the moderators or site owners here but feel free to inform or take it up with whom you believe to be the current copyright holders of the Amiga Workbench Disk Sets...

So unless the site owners here object or anyone can help me contact someone who can genuinely sell/issue me with a distribution licence then in a few days time all versions of the Workbench Disk Sets from 1.3 to 3.1 will be available to download freely from Commodorescotland.com ...

[Franko]

Have you tried asking H&P for a license to OS3.9?

No... for the simple reasons that OS3.9 can still be purchased online and therefore is still a commercial money making product that can be obtained easily and legally enough...

[Franko]

even if it is overpriced.  

Agree on the price... but at least it can still be purchased/obtained easily enough...

[Franko]

You can download the WB 1.x-3.x via Amiga Forever purchase as well.

True... but I wish to make them available for free and do not agree with folk having to pay for a download. Amiga Forever is fine if you're happy to pay for a physical product and I have even purchased it myself (although I have never used it)...

[Franko]

Workbench/AmigaOS 1.x- 3.1 can be legally bought as part of the Amiga Forever package! Hoist by your own petard!

I know that and anyone with eyes knows that, I have nothing against Amiga Forever I just want folk to be able to easily download for FREE the Amiga Workbench Disk Sets when they need them...

[Franko]

Q: Are silver CD's of OS3.9 still being "pressed" by H&P or somebody else? Or are retailers still selling NOS versions they purchased years ago?

And then there's the Update 2 OS3.9 disc... who distributes those and are they silver or burned on CD-R?

Franko, if you're not able to do 3.9, what about 3.5?

To be honest 3.9 & 3.5 distribution doesn't interest me at this point in time, Id rather just stick to 3.1 and lower and have them easily available on the net for old hands and newcomers alike...

[Franko]

I'm still wondering who gave you the right to do that?  Now if you can prove in court that AI doesn't own the license to WB/KS and Hyperion's license is null and void, now that would be a horse of a different color.

Read my first post again a bit more carefully, no has given me the right to do anything but I have done all I can within reason to try and obtain a distribution licence...

So if you want to prove something in court feel free to do so but I have no reason to believe you legally own these rights or have the ability to sell or issue me with a distribution licence, at the end of the day it's your money you'll be spending on court proceedings so go speak to your lawyers now and start your proceedings...

[Franko]

Prepare to get ur ass sued off by that Hyperion lawyer :-)

Too bad, its going to be a quiet forum here in the future ;-)

Hyperion have never responded to any of my requests so you're in for a bit of a let down there...

I really wish folk like you would do a bit of research before rattling their gums about things they don't know...

[Franko]

@Franko

Someone pointed out in another thread that Petro gave Amiga Workbench 3.0 free to the community along time ago.

@ AmigaHeretic

That's just one of the reasons why I can't understand why the copyright mafia here rattle their gums all the time...

I collected and bought all those old AmigaFormat CoverDisk CDs and right up until the last one ever issued with Amiga Format Issue number 136 (AFCD 52) in May 2000 they were indeed giving away freely Workbench 3.0 ...

I'm only making sure that I have done all that I need to that would stand up in any court of law as being "reasonable" should anyone who may still own the copyright on them wish to challenge me on the distribution of them, should the need arise...

As I am more than satisfied that I have done so and as no-one has responded then I am preparing to make these Workbench Disk Sets available on my sites. Hence the reason for this thread, a last chance for anyone to advise me on contacting anyone who I may have missed in trying to obtain a licence and to ask the site owners, administrators and mods to please not be influenced by the copyright mafia here, who neither own any of the material let alone have a scooby doo about the legality of who may own it and even more so, the simple fact it has nothing to do with them in the first place...

[Franko]

@ Cool_amigaN

Couldn't agree more with you in what you said in your post and as I think I've given enough details and reasons for me doing this, then I'll leave it up to the admins & mods here to decide if the link in my signature to CommodoreScotland.com should be removed when I make this stuff available...

Just don't understand why Amiga sites seem to have more than their fare share of these copyright mafia numpties who quite apart from the fact they don't own the stuff they have even less of clue about copyright and don't realise that the rest of us don't give a toss what they have to say...

[Franko]

My guess is, they will remove it because they should.

You are basically doing an end-around of Cloanto who have done what they should and gotten rights to distribute (and likely had to pay for those rights).

If you intend to distribute it is your duty to get permission from the rights holder(s). if you can't, then you cant distribute legally. End of story. The statement 'I did all I could to try to get it and no one responded or gave it to me' doesn't give you rights by omission. Lack of rights = lack of rights no matter how hard you tried and wether you received a negative response or no response at all.

In short, when seeking rights to distribute, the lack of a response does not equate to an affirmative response.

I'll stick with the advice that I've been given over the past two months as I trust these people and It doesn't just come down to a single sentence saying that "I have done all the is reasonable", that is just for this thread to give a basic idea of what I am doing...

I'm pretty sure Cloanto had pay for these distribution rights and I'm more than happy to do so also but it's kinda impossible to pay someone when they don't respond to you or make themselves know in the first place...

Perhaps once they are up on the site the copyright owners may finally make themselves known and things can be taken from there...

So I'll just say thank you for your "opinion" but I'll stick to the advice I have received from others...

[Franko]

I don't mind being called copyright maffia; I will report you if you put material on your site you don't have permission to distribute.

greets,
Staf.

Report me to whom... and why... :confused:

For one thing it is nothing to do with you and for another how do you know that by the time they appear in my site that I will not have the appropriate licence or rights to do so...

So go ahead and report me to whomever you care too, at the end of the day it's none of your business and your time would be better spent elsewhere actually doing something useful for the Amiga community...

[Franko]

@ jorkany

I only ever use my real email address to contact companies and provide them with enough personal details about myself in order to make it clear that it is not a joke or spam they are receiving, but after two months and not one response then I'm assuming that they either don't have the rights or just don't care about anyone distributing them...

So it looks like in just few days time the Workbench Disks Sets will be up on the homepage of my site for free download...

As even the copyright mafia who like to complain and whine and tell me that they are going to report me to someone (not got a clue who that someone might be) yet they can't even tell me who could sell or issue me with the appropriate distribution licence or rights... bit strange that methinks and just further proves to me that these folk are nothing but idiots who would rather keep the Amiga as a laughing stock in the computer world rather than helping the community out in any small way they can...

At the end of the day for those of us who still live in the real world where common sense still prevails then at least for anyone needing them they will know where to find them easily. Until I receive word from someone who requires me to remove them and who can provide me with proof that they are indeed the legitimate owners then there they shall remain for the Amiga community to access freely...

[Franko]

But........and this where "Reasonable" attempts is entirely subjective. I would consider someone trying to contact me as reasonable in reverse would be, "In writing" and if it was a legal matter (in this case I believe it would be), a solicitors letter/writ or legal statement of intent, marked/dated and stamped by a solicitor.

If I was wanting to "Reserve my Rights" I wouldn't just answer an email or answer the phone on such things.

My tuppence worth. !

One of the reasons why I finally had to get onto the net in the first place last year, is simply because in this day and age it has become impossible in some cases to get in contact with a company unless it is done over the net... :furious:

I like you, much prefer to do things the old fashioned way in writing but how do you get the details and address of the person or company you want to write to, when most do not publish a physical address or phone number these days...

You first have to try and contact them via the net just to get hold of these details and in a lot of cases that, like here for me has proven fruitless. It's one of the most annoying things these days and it's not just the business world it's also started to creep into government departments, no net... no access...

So it's not (even though I'd prefer it that way) as simple as just saying write to them...

[Franko]

Well as time goes on I'm more than convinced that all Workbench Disk sets from 1.3 to 3.1 will be availble for free download from my site by this weekend...

As so far there has been no response from either the admins or mods in answer to my first post about removing the link to my site in my signature again, as yet...

It was removed by RedRumloa before and I was issued with an infraction after Gazgod complained about it when I had my downloads section open to everyone and he didn't like the fact that I had in there for download the Workbench Disk Sets...

So therefore this time I wanted to state clearly my purpose and ask the site admins & mods not to remove the link again and issue me with infractions (or ban me) on the grounds that some folk may complain and accuse me of piracy (which I would like to add if they do so they had better be willing to back up that claim in a legal action) as I have said on numerous occasion these piracy claims are based on "opinions" and not facts...

I fail to understand what the motivation is behind these folk, whom apart from making these false accusations based on their flawed interpretation of copyright laws mainly seem to be wanting to do nothing more than deprive the rest of us easy access to this old software. My experience so far in this has proven that if any copyright holders do still exist they obviously don't care about the distribution of this software, so why do the copyright mafia make such a big song and dance about it... :confused:

It remind me of little children in a school playground where you always had one who said  "oooh... you swore and said a bad word, I'm telling on you", fine for little kids but these folk are supposed to be mature adults but just can't resist being a clipe (that's a Scottish word for someone who tells on someone") and for what purpose, to keep locked away forever this software from us just out of sheer spite, malice or some high lofty morals they want to impose on everyone else...

Sad that such folk hang around these sites and spoil things in the Amiga community but as I say they don't own the stuff they can't prove who does (if anyone) and at the end of the day what they have to say simply doesn't matter as they don't own the stuff. So it's obvious to me that they are just trying to cause bother for me or get me banned from this site...