18 Jul
1997
18 Jul
'97
3:09 a.m.
My idea would be to acquire the rights to the source
code for the ROMs,
schematics for their machines, IC masks for any custom chips, PC board
artwork, engineering diagrams, manuals, and service/technical information.
That's it. I don't want any inventory (which by now, I'm sure, has been
dumped) or tooling. I'm up in the air about trademarks, though (I know that
"Commodore" is gone, but the others like VIC, C-64, and PET may still be
available).
Would this be for proffit or non-proffit purposes?
I could see purchasing the rights to the C=64 and setting them free as
public domain. Perhaps raise the money to do it by selling "shares" of
ownership in the rights to C= enthusiasts. That way, emulators can use
original C= ROM code without copyright infringement, and "Build Your Own
Commie 64" kits could be a possibility. Since the rights would be
purchased by the computing community, they'd belong to the computing
community.
I don't see much of a point to owning the rights to such things in a
for-proffit mode. Except maybe just bragging rights...
"Hey, baby... I own the exclusive rights to manufacture the Commodore
Plus 4. Want to go back to my place for a drink?"
"Get away from me you creep! My man owns the rights to the Commodore 16!"
- starling