@Wayne
To my understanding, purchasers of this site gets the following:
1) Google revenue
2) Members revenue (donations and membership)
3) Site and content (software and intelectual property)
4) Amiga.org brand and rights.
That's fairly simple to grasp.
Correct.
Earlier you have stated that Amiga.org is the only Amiga site around with written permission from the old Commodore Amiga to use the Amiga name.
What else does this permission give? Rights to use logos to brand the site? What about Amiga Org Merchandise?
Several years ago, I found a hardcopy reply from a letter I had written to Commodore leaders at the time stating simply that they "have no objection to my formation of Amiga.org as a web site to support the Commodore Amiga community".
Several other Commodore engineers at the time (Mike Sinz, Dave Haynie, etc) also echoed the "that sounds very cool" sentiment when we had met with them at the Commodore Dev meetings, but on that, there was nothing in writing.
As to whether or not I could find said hard copy letter today, that I cannot guarantee. Frankly, it's been so many years ago, I don't even remember who signed it, but the gist was that we (NASAU) had Commodore's implied approval to start the site to support their community.
In regards to merchandising, as you're aware, AI and I have gone through this several times. I hold the copyright on the current Amiga.org logo, first use, April 26th, 1995 as witnessed by the web archives. That being said, according to a lawyer I once consulted, since none of the individual parts match any registered logo from Amiga Inc, the copyright I claim is valid, as an artistic piece since none of the individual parts are exact matches to the now non-existing Commodore trademarks.
Let me be very clear. I'm no lawyer. I never continued to pursue the marketing of stuff simply because I didn't want the hassle of having to prove all of this in a court of law in another state. Amiga.org is after all operated at a non-profit level (not that we're a non-profit, we just don't make money from it) and Amiga Inc loves to pay lawyers rather than develop products.
What you do with that fact is entirely up to you, but from my perspective, since Amiga.org;
1) predates everyone BUT Commodore
2) does NOT operate in bad faith against the current owners
3) Has had written approval from everyone from Commodore to Bill McEwen (circa 2000) to operate over the years those things should be in the clear.
We just do not step on their toes and while we try to support the community, we don't go out of our way to support their competition and they leave us alone.
Considering my history with Bill McEwen and group, it would be a prime opportunity for the new and more enthusiastic owner to develop a good working relationship with Amiga Inc.
In the end, regardless of how you feel about AI or their history, they are in fact the current "mother company" for the Amiga, so I'd hope whomever takes the captain's chair doesn't go out of their way to tick them off.
For example, I saw Bill Buck floating around here yesterday before I killed his post and banned him. Under no circumstances would I ever willingly or knowingly sell to, or otherwise facilitate the sale of Amiga.org to Genesi or more specifically BBRV.
That goes beyond my personal hatred for him.
If he wants to pay me 25k (the 10k, plus the 10k he owes me, plus 5k for destroying my life and marriage) I'll sell it to him and let him take his chances defending the sale against AI, but again, I would never put the site in such a situation knowingly.
In short, while not mandatory, it would be imperative to any prospective buyer to take steps on your own to develop a relationship with Amiga Inc.
Wayne
