Is Amiga (the company) dead?

[Lando]

snowman040 wrote:
OMG who the :madashell: is KMOS now ? :-( South American soap operas are simple comparing to this :-o

So I guess if there >WAS< some company X with milions of $ and willing to buy Amiga name (from whoever), site (from whoever2), patents and IP from Gateway, OS4 from Hyperion, solve mess with Genesi (omg?) ..... it would be years of lawyer time and millions of $ wasted on papers instead R&D

The patents aren't really needed to produce a new Amiga computer and/or OS - they mostly relate to 80's technology that serve no useful purpose in the 21st century.

The 'OS4 from Hyperion' bit is probably the easiest - if/when OS4 'final' is released, it's just a single $20k payment to get it back.  And if it never gets released, Hyperion only have the rights to 4.0x, so the new owner can just release their own new official version of AmigaOS as 4.1 (or 5.0) and bypass Hyperion altogether.

As for the problems with Genesi, they just need to port AmigaDE to the Pegasos as they were ordered to by the Court some years ago.  Since AmigaDE is basically Tao's product with Amiga branding, all this would require is a payment to Tao for them to do the port, and giving Genesi the right to use the Amiga brand name with their products.  Job done.

[recidivist]

 OK,the patent collecting idea makes sense ,too. For a few million which is chump change to any real computer company Gateway has protection in case of some multimedia attack as well as keeping a potentially competitive system off the market.

 A few real old-timers around Cincinnati Ohio politics have said that GM paid the city to close down the streetcars so the people would buy more automobiles for commuting.

  More than one company in other fields have bought out a competitor and then shut it down.

 Expecting judges or the government to force someone to design,build,or market a product goes against the western free market ideal. Evidently no one with the clout,drive,vision ,or just plain greed is there to push for an Amiga revival.
 
It is frustrating to know how much money is being spent  on death and destruction every day, both by governments and individuals while good things are ignored.
 For 1% of what Americans spend on recreational and self-destructive drugs the Amiga could be updated and widely promoted.

[SHADES]

Sorry but as far as I know, Gateway own some AMIGA patents only. Ainc bought the rest. I know for sure, Gateway does not own the OS in any way. From memory, Hyperion own OS4 but A-Inc have a clause saying they can buy it back at any time or something along those lines. There's also some sort of NDA preventing certain ports etc. You would have to ask Hyperion for more info on this however they won't break the NDA.

[pierre]

@recidivist
 For 1% of what Americans spend on recreational and self-destructive drugs the Amiga could be updated and widely promoted.

stay away from our drugs!!!  There must be a better way... also I think europe and the rest of the world use drugs also.
   :evilgrin:


 :python:

[MASACREWILL]

..lets gather money and buy that damn firm, then rename it to Amiga.org and start reproducing Amiga classics in China.. just for start..  :-)

[Waccoon]

That actually sounds more likely to happen than getting an AmigaOne 2.

[MASACREWILL]

..the question is WHO owns Amiga Inc. and what is the price of its stocks.. I think that 100 000 USD for a whole company would be a fair price..

[bloodline]

Lando wrote:

snowman040 wrote:
OMG who the :madashell: is KMOS now ? :-( South American soap operas are simple comparing to this :-o

So I guess if there >WAS< some company X with milions of $ and willing to buy Amiga name (from whoever), site (from whoever2), patents and IP from Gateway, OS4 from Hyperion, solve mess with Genesi (omg?) ..... it would be years of lawyer time and millions of $ wasted on papers instead R&D

The patents aren't really needed to produce a new Amiga computer and/or OS - they mostly relate to 80's technology that serve no useful purpose in the 21st century.

Yup, it's only the trademarks that have any value... even that isn't really worth much... except perhaps for some retro gaming comapany?

The 'OS4 from Hyperion' bit is probably the easiest - if/when OS4 'final' is released, it's just a single $20k payment to get it back.  And if it never gets released, Hyperion only have the rights to 4.0x, so the new owner can just release their own new official version of AmigaOS as 4.1 (or 5.0) and bypass Hyperion altogether.

But if I've been reading the forums right, certain parts of AmigaOS4.0 are not owned by Hyperion (but by their "friends")... "ExecSG" being the key point here... which effecitly makes "AmigaOS4.0" useless to anybody other than Hyperion.

[bloodline]

SHADES wrote:
Sorry but as far as I know, Gateway own some AMIGA patents only. Ainc bought the rest.

Ainc only bought the Trademarks... and a licence to use exisisting Amiga Patents/Technology from Gateway.

I know for sure, Gateway does not own the OS in any way.

There is a great deal of uncertainty as to exactly what Escom did buy from the Commodore liquidators... there appears to be no mention of the Amiga Operating System, by that token... Have gateway ever owned AmigaOS?
 

From memory, Hyperion own OS4 but A-Inc have a clause saying they can buy it back at any time or something along those lines.

Except for the parts which Hyperion have cleverly developed outside of their "contract".

There's also some sort of NDA preventing certain ports etc. You would have to ask Hyperion for more info on this however they won't break the NDA.

Urgh...

[Bodie_CI5]

I think that 100 000 USD for a whole company would be a fair price..

/me contemplates winning the lottery

[AJCopland]

I think i speak for everyone when i ask: So who owns what from who now? :-o

so confusing

Andy

[Tomas]

Apparantly not, as they did sell quite a few titles during the competition promotion they had at handago. It is indeed weird that they do not bother to update such important details on their website.

They are still alive, but it looks like they only milk some few pennies out of their old titles without actually developing anything.

[Tomas]

It's rather pathetic, but the only signs of life as of late has been Vince Pfeiffer getting Amiga.org's Cafepress store shut down last week without warning for "trademark violations". This in direct violation of their own licensing agreement which called for 30% of the sales price which I was willing to add into the price if you guys wanted to pay for it.

This is just insane  :-(
I cannot understand how they can go so low and attack individuals in the community.

[Tomas]

cv643d wrote:
What about the German office where Petro worked? Who works there now?

I dont think they managed to pay the costs...

[Bodie_CI5]

Wayne,

wtf on two fronts:

a) re the cafepress store

b) re AInc and Gateway.


Please, please, can someone explain what is actually going on there? I'm seeing GW still own things left and right. What is the actual status of things? What is owned and by whom and what does this entail?

[John_Hoek]

I'm new registered inhere. But I like to take part of this discussion.

To me it's very clear that Gateway still owns every rights on Amiga patents; on Amiga hardware AND software, including AmigaOS untill OS version3.1 .
AmigaInc. has only a license bought from Gateway to use the AmigaOS and to develop to it etc. Of course the changes after version 3.1 are not into the deal.

Gateway bought all Amiga rights to produce etc. Amiga's form Escom.  Escom bought all rights 2 years earlier from Commodore leftovers. Hense Escom has sold new A1200's and A4000's!

So to me it's clear. Gateway has all rights on Amiga.