amigadave Quote:

I was wondering the same thing, but I guess it isn't surprising, since the court did not uphold Cloanto's request for an injunction to stop sales of AmigaOS3.1.4, until after the court case was concluded. I don't understand why the court continues to allow Hyperion to sell OS3.1.4, during the court case, as Hyperion will never pay back the royalties/profits from selling OS3.1.4, when they lose this case and are forced to stop all AmigaOS3.x development.

It makes sense that the court would assume the 2009 Settlement Agreement is valid and interpret it according to the wording. It is up to the plaintiff Amiga parties to show otherwise (plaintiff has burden of proof). A summary judgement for the Amiga parties may *not* force Hyperion to pay the Amiga parties 68k AmigaOS revenue as the IP licenses are good until the contract is terminated by the court.

2009 Settlement Agreement Quote:

9. Termination. This Agreement and the rights and obligations contained therein, shall enter into force as of the Effective Date and remain in force until such time as a court of competent jurisdiction has issued a final and non-appealable ruling on the existence of a material breach justifying termination of this Agreement.

I see 2 possible outcomes of the Amiga parties winning a summary judgement although the first is probably more likely as that is what the Amiga parties are arguing for.

1) 2009 Settlement Agreement terminated for breach of contract
o Hyperion and A-Eon have Amiga IP licenses up until "a court of competent jurisdiction has issued a final and non-appealable ruling". Hyperion and A-Eon may be able to appeal the ruling and should retain licenses until "a final and non-appealable ruling".
o Hyperion and A-Eon should *not* have to pay back the Amiga parties for using the IP licenses granted in the 2009 Settlement Agreement before termination.

2) 2009 Settlement Agreement void from inception because it is illegal
o Hyperion and A-Eon never had valid Amiga IP licenses from the 2009 Settlement Agreement.
o Hyperion and A-Eon may have to pay the Amiga parties revenue made from using Amiga licenses.

There is a separate case proceeding where the Amiga parties are suing Hyperion for using Amiga IP marks which are *not* licensed such as "Amiga", "Kickstart" and "Workbench". Hyperion may have to pay the Amiga parties whatever award the jury or judge decides if the Amiga parties win the lawsuit.

amigadave Quote:

I don't see it as a bad thing if Hyperion loses this court case and all rights to developing AmigaOS4, and anything else to do with AmigaOS3 or earlier versions, as I have no doubt that someone else, be it Cloanto, A-Eon, or another company, will resume AmigaOS development in the future, and most probably do a much better job of it than Hyperion has ever done. If Hyperion some how miraculously wins this case, or a settlement allows Hyperion to stay in the business of developing AmigaOS4 (and god forbid AmigaOS3.x), then I'll be selling my X1000 and giving up on anything to do with AmigaOS4. I can always continue to enjoy AmigaOS3.x and earlier versions via emulation, FPGA, or my remaining original Amiga hardware, without any need to ever deal with Hyperion again. I'll certainly never buy anything from them, as I consider that a crime against the Amiga community, if I support Hyperion in any way.

I think 68k AmigaOS development will continue with or without Hyperion too. I consider the new 68k AmigaOS to be legal but also question the ethics of supporting Hyperion and have not bought it. Some users think it is more important to support the project even though all the money goes to Hyperion and none to the developers. The 68k AmigaOS market is likely larger than whatever sales number Hyperion hits with the new AmigaOS in a divided Amiga market with questionable ethics.

Last edited by matthey on 25-May-2021 at 01:43 AM.
Last edited by matthey on 25-May-2021 at 12:42 AM.

@amigadave

Just to clear this up since you're not the 1st to mention this:

Short version - 3.2 is covered via 3.1.4 in the case.

In addition the following has not changed either. It's still part of the case. From the PR posted yesterday:

If you wish to support us further, please feel free to check out our AmigaOS merchandise section here.

#6

Last edited by number6 on 24-May-2021 at 10:53 PM.

_________________
This posting, in its entirety, represents solely the perspective of the author.
*Secrecy has served us so well*