RafaMinu wrote:
> On Mar 2, 11:01 pm, bobbie sellers <bl...@[EMAIL PROTECTED]
> wrote:
>> 1001 Webs wrote:
>>> On Mar 1, 4:33 pm, "Ryan P." <rpa...@[EMAIL PROTECTED]
>
>>> wrote:
>>>> 1001 Webs wrote:
>>>>> I've read that it would take a huge amount of money just to hire the
>>>>> lawyers needed to sue (or come to terms with) just about any other
>>>>> hardware/software manufacturer in the games industry.
>>>> .
>>>> .
>>>> That was allegedly an issue back when Commodore still existed.
They
>>>> had a HUGE laundry list of patents that were being violated, but
didn't
>>>> have the money to sue all the companies involved.
>>>> Or maybe somebody in Legal didn't have the intelligence to initiate
>>>> it... C= unfortunately was always kind've stupid when it came to
>>>> business. Their strong point was creativity.
>>> Well, it sounds like there's money to be made there.
>>> Perhaps some lawyer might be interested ...
>> A bit late for that as most of the patents have expired.
>> The patents were one of the reasons Gateway bought the IP, et al
>> back in the day. They gave them a good look and took out what they
>> felt they could use and passed the rest on to Amiga, Inc. in good
>> time. AI stood still for various people who may have infringed to
>> produce various products and licensed some to Cloanto for Amiga
>> Forever. Since they failed to take the publishers to task for
>> the fastest emulators I would be sure that the money was never
>> there to hire lawyers to take violators to court in Germany
>> or anywhere else.
>
> According to the WTO's Agreement on Trade-Related Aspects of
> Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPs Agreement). Article 33 of the
> TRIPs Agreement provides that the
> "The term of protection available [for patents] shall not end before
> the expiration of a period of twenty years counted from the filing
> date."
>
> http://www.wto.org/english/tratop_e/trips_e/t_agm0_e.htm
..
..
One still needs the money to legally enforce the patents. And
unfortunately, once you allow one company to get away with infringement,
it becomes harder to legally enforce it the next time.
That's one of the reasons why huge companies like Disney and Warner
Brothers send Cease and Desist letters to anyone who even THINKS about
using them as some sort of promotion without permission.
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