[Coco] ROM Copyrights... copyrights in general...

[Al Hartman]

Given that the Dragon and Brazilian clones exist, I'd bet good money the license was non-exclusive.

Grant Searle uses a modified ECB for his 6809 computer, and hasn't been sued by Tandy or anyone else. I'd bet that nobody cares about the code as long as it is not selling in huge quantities.

-[ Al ]-
On 6/8/2017 10:40:04 PM, RETRO Innovations <go4retro at go4retro.com> wrote:
On 6/8/2017 10:33 AM, Salvador Garcia via Coco wrote:
> I've always "heard" that if you own the original roms, you have the right to make copies for your own personal use... I have no clue if this is true. I know it did apply to making tape and CD copies of albums I own, but ONLY for personal use.
Sorta:

https://www.copyright.gov/help/faq/faq-digital.html

You can make a single archival copy of the ROMs...

But:

If you have a legal copy of software you are allowed to make a single
archival copy of the software for backup purposes. However, the copy can
only be used if the original software is destroyed or fails to work.
When the original is given away, the backup copy must also be given with
the original or destroyed.

https://wustl.edu/about/compliance-policies/computers-internet-policies/legal-ethical-software-use/

Now, the likelihood that one would check on this limit of use is
statistically 0, even given Dennis' concerns. But, even in the spirit
of the law, you can't use the Coco and the Emulator at the same time, as
you would then be deriving twice the benefit from the SW than what you
purchased.

Barry's efforts will depend greatly on whether TANDY negotiated an
"exclusive" license to the 6809 TANDY BASIC deliverable from MS. If so,
then TANDY, or it's receivers, are the only ones who can grant the
license to use the SW. Thankfully, MS was very shrewd, so I would
theorize that they only gave TANDY a non-exclusive right to use the BASIC.

Jim

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