Gateway 2000 Amiga rights?

[AmiDelf]

I just wonder, when Gateway sold their Amiga part, they didnt sell everything. What sort of Amiga rights does Gateway still have?

Just wondering...


Regards,
AmiDelf

[mikeymike]

I think the Amiga patents originally owned by Commodore are now spread out over the number of companies that have bought Amiga, now.

Considering the direction the AmigaOne is taken (new platform, largely standard hardware, very little proprietary), most of those patents probably aren't needed anymore.

The other problem is of course, finding out for definite who owns what.  Any other information is really just speculation.

[AmiDelf]

Interesting.. thanx.. anything more? So Gateway can make their own Amiga if they really want?

Regards,
AmiDelf

[mikeymike]

They couldn't call it an Amiga, and the rights for AmigaOS seem to be firmly in the lap of Amiga Inc, so I guess that comes down to what your definition of an Amiga is :-)

Anyway, if you believe the rumours that Gateway was 'persuaded' by MS not to make a new Amiga series, then I think the conclusion is that they really wouldn't want to :-)

[jd997uk]

IIRC, Gateway only sold the Amiga trademark. Amiga Inc also obtained exclusives such as royalty-free usage of the Amiga patents etc.
Actually, with all the big guns seemingly going patent crazy, I wonder if is time for Gateway to start enforcing any patent abuse (the Right Mouse Button springs to mind)? A few hundred million from M$ wouldn't go amiss..............

-john

[cgutjahr]

Amiga Inc. owns the name, all associated trademarks and the related technology (AmigaOS, related IP).

Gateway owns all Amiga patents (I think there are five of them) and licensed them to Amiga Inc.

No, Gateway could not build their own Amiga. They couldn't call it "Amiga" and it wouldn't run AmigaOS.

So who owns the right to the Commodore 64, 128, 16, Plus 4 and VIC-20?

[PulsatingQuasar]

So who owns the right to the Commodore 64, 128, 16, Plus 4 and VIC-20?

I'm not sure but AFAIK at one point the rights to the name Commodore and the C-64 line were in the hands of Tulip computers from the Netherlands.

[odin]

AFAIK IIRC A Inc doesn't own anything but only holds licences for IP and trademarks (could be wrong though).

The C= and 'Commodore' trademarks are indeed still property of Tulip Computers (do they sell anything these days?) and I assume this also includes the rights of anything C= 8 bit.

[Argo]

Gateway kept and holds 47 Amiga Patents.

[downix]

AFAIK IIRC A Inc doesn't own anything but only holds licences for IP and trademarks (could be wrong though).

A quick check at the US Patent and Trademark office can clear this up:

Amiga Development LLC LIMITED LIABILITY COMPANY DELAWARE 600 North Derby Lane North Sioux City SOUTH DAKOTA 57049

This address, BTW, belongs to Gateway.  It also is an amendment to the original filing:

 COMMODORE-AMIGA, INC. CORPORATION CALIFORNIA 983 UNIVERSITY AVENUE LOS GATOS CALIFORNIA 95030

There is also a trademark for "Powered by Amiga" also owned by Gateway.

So, I think you're right there odin.

[PulsatingQuasar]

The C= and 'Commodore' trademarks are indeed still property of Tulip Computers (do they sell anything these days?) and I assume this also includes the rights of anything C= 8 bit.

Well haven't heard about them in a long long time!

Only thing I can come up with  is the license for the CommodoreOne.