Jim Brain wrote: I'd be interested in why as well. Only guessing, if you google VCF, your current eighth hit is Vintage Computer Festival. However, your first two hits are Value City Furniture, and the third hit, well, hehehe, you'll have to google it yourself. :) Maybe that's why? Keith

<Way off Topic> On Thu, 19 Nov 2009 13:41:05 -0500, Evan Koblentz wrote: Likeleness of confusion only works for Registered Trademarks not personal claims. There are currently 2 active federal registered trademarks for "VCF" Registered by APOTHECUS PHARMACEUTICAL CORP. CORPORATION NEW YORK 20 Audrey Avenue Oyster Bay NEW YORK 117711532 Reg No. 2848974 "VCF" Since 2003 DISSOLVING VAGINAL DEODORIZING INSERTS. Reg No. 1350270 "VCF" Since 1984 VAGINAL CONTRACEPTIVE FILM There is also one more: Reg No. 2559415 "VCF PERSONAL LUBRICANT" Since 2002 MEDICAL LUBRICANT, NAMELY, VAGINAL LUBRICANT AND MOISTURIZER. If Sellam thinks he owns a franchise then he had better register it ASAP, or chance loosing it to an IP lawyer somewhere. A registration for something as stupid as digital yeast meter could cause him problems without a claim in the future. The other Bob

wow... ________________________________ From: Evan Koblentz <evan at snarc.net> To: On-Topic and Off-Topic Posts <cctalk at classiccmp.org> Sent: Thu, November 19, 2009 12:41:05 PM Subject: Re: Cromemco Z-2 and IMSAI 8080 at Purdue Because "VCF" is already an established term in the hobby for "Vintage Computer Festival." That's not revisionist history; everyone knows we've been calling the events VCF 1.0, VCF 2.0, VCF Europe, VCF East, etc. since 1997 when it began. Sellam actually has a trademark on the term "Vintage Computer Festival" but he couldn't get VCF because it's also a file extension and it used in lots of other non-related places. But anyhow, for the hobby, we all know what VCF is -- Sellam's event. (It's not like Hans or Patrick or myself just decided to have our own events and call them VCF. Sellam owns the franchise and we openly admit it's a for-profit endeavor.) So, nothing against Erik, but when people call his forum the "VCF" they are creating confusion.

Right. I'm not trying to cause any big fuss and I'm certainly not a lawyer. But, even I do a double-take when I read "VCF" on a hobby site and it's meant as something other than the Festival.

On Thu, 19 Nov 2009 14:49:29 -0500, Evan Koblentz wrote: Your level of confusion is of no concern to an examiner. There has never been ANY application for the term Vintage Computer ANYTHING filed with the USPTO! It is a moot point. Goto: http://tess2.uspto.gov/ First choice: New User Form Search (Basic) Search Term: Vintage Computer Click on the New User Form BACK button Try Search Term: Computer Festival You might find it interesting to find top of the list: TCF - TRENTON COMPUTER FESTIVAL was abandoned close to 10 years ago! and you will only find 2 live ones. Including: COMPUTERFEST First use:1985 Dayton Microcomputer Association, Inc. CORPORATION OHIO 119 VALLEY STREET Dayton OHIO 45404 Try the Search Term: Festival and you wll find 8800+ I did not see any connected with Vintage Computers If it is not listed in TESS it is a local tag only and does not have National or Global Scope! If you wish to know more about the recovery of domain names by registered trademark owners google "UDRP conference" This VCF trademark question comes up every few years, Its BS! I would expect an application for "Vintage Computer Festival" would most likely be rejected as being "Descriptive" but I am sure Sellam can show enough history of distintive use to get done. Its not rocket science to fill out an application, but then again it is not exactly free. I the case of the TRENTON COMPUTER FESTIVAL it was not worth the ~$400 to renew it so they abandoned the registration. The other Bob

Chuck Guzis wrote: I just call it the Vintage Marketplace. Doc

Evan Koblentz wrote: Can we just call Erik's web board the VC Forum? Cheers, Bryan

Geoffrey Reed wrote: Tag dutifully taken! :p I was hoping the crowd here would automatically know that "VC" mean "Vintage Computer" and not venture capitalists or umm..., anything else. Outside of here, VC would of course be fair game. Cheers, Bryan

Evan Koblentz wrote: Thanks for the notes about this. I'll work with the people in charge of the stuff to make sure that it gets a good home. Pat

---------------------------------------- Hi I thought I should mention. When I looked at the picture, it looked like it was just an IMSAI front panel. It looked like it had a cable to tie to the Cromemco. Dwight _________________________________________________________________ Hotmail: Trusted email with Microsoft's powerful SPAM protection. http://clk.atdmt.com/GBL/go/177141664/direct/01/ http://clk.atdmt.com/GBL/go/177141664/direct/01/

---------------------------------------- Hi Yes, the address and data displayed are from the S100 but in order to make the hole thing work, the front panel needs direct access to the CPU's data bus as well. This is done with the header connector. The IMSAI and Altair both used the same method. To examine an address, they'd jam a jump instruction into the CPU from the header. To increment the address, they'd jam a NOP instruction. I'm not sure if this created the simplest front panel but had the advantage that the processor already had the correct address inside and only needed to be started when the RUN switch is selected. The S100 data bus had the real data while the 8080 only saw the phony instructions from the frontpanel unless RUN or SINGLE-STEP were selected. This is similar to the way most mini front panels work so it may have made sense to do this with the 8080. I should also note that one of the common problems I've seen on IMSAI and Altair front panels is getting the bits reversed on the header. The address increment seems to work but one can't select a correct address. The other problems that seems common is one of the OC data drivers fails. I suspect the timing is not exact and there is a little crowbar current but I've never put a 'scope on it to see. Dwight _________________________________________________________________ Hotmail: Trusted email with Microsoft's powerful SPAM protection. http://clk.atdmt.com/GBL/go/177141664/direct/01/ http://clk.atdmt.com/GBL/go/177141664/direct/01/