[Coco] [Color Computer] Need to know if I'm in safe waters here

[Richard Adams]

Good point, James, and one that I also made, years ago, in a published 
letter to our old friend, "The Rainbow". I don't think Tom Mix could have a 
valid copyright on Donkey King (or The King), or that Spectrum Associates 
would have grounds for a copyright suit on Lancer.

I loved the variety of arcade knock-offs on the CoCo, and very much 
appreciated the companies that made them, but I don't think they were 
legitimately copyrightable, all the same. Interesting, how the lack of 
copyright enforcement on the CoCo led to a competitive market that 
encouraged better quality software. Compared to, say, the utterly lame 
'Burgertime' game on the TI-99/4A, or the Atari 2600's dreadful rendition of 
Pac-Man....

Ciao,

Richard


>From: "James Diffendaffer" <jdiffendaffer at yahoo.com>
>
>That may also mean that some of the old games that were clones of
>arcade machine games do not have valid copyrights.
>They were certainly closer copies of the arcade machines than KC
>Munchkin(?) was of PacMan.
>
SNIP

_________________________________________________________________
Local listings, incredible imagery, and driving directions - all in one 
place! http://maps.live.com/?wip=69&FORM=MGAC01