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`18.Feb.2019` Mike Battilana (E-Mail)	Picasso96: Cloanto replies Jens Schönfeld's allegations For years (German), first Thomas Richter - who is now working on Jens Schönfeld's commercial P96 distribution - and later Jens Schönfeld himself have criticized Cloanto's distribution of Picasso96 as part of Amiga Forever. In a 2001 press release, Cloanto had announced that the company licenced P96 from its original authors Alexander Kneer and Tobias Abt for use in the Amiga Forever distribution. Jens Schönfeld denies that, recently he attacked the Italian company in a press release and claimed (German) in a discussion on amiga-news.de that he had only seen "blackened account statements and vague e-mails" as evidence for the alleged licence to Cloanto. Apparently, Cloanto now released these exact emails and a transfer receipt to the public. The old Picasso announcement on the company's website has been supplemented with a small note and a PDF document. The PDF contains two e-mails which are apparently part of a longer conversation between Mike Battilana (Cloanto) and Alexander Kneer (Picasso96). Basically, Battilana is having Kneer confirm various details of the license agreement. The core points the two are addressing, seem to be the following items: Battilana suggests the following copyright notice: "Amiga Forever includes a licensed copy of the Picasso96 software. This means that no additional shareware fees are due for this copy of the software, which is licensed for use only in the Amiga Forever emulation environment, and without upgrade privileges." Alexander Kneers reply to the suggestion: "Perfect." Battilana asks: "Do you think we need a contract, or is our exchange of email sufficient? For me it is enough, if you confirm so." Kneer answers: "Sufficient for me." Battilana then summarizes older agreements that are not part of the mails included in the PDF: "The fee for using Picasso96 in Amiga Forever as agreed, in place of the current shareware status, would be DM 2000.00 (in addition to past shareware contributions). If you could confirm that the data I used one year ago is still OK, I will wire it there." Kneer: "Nothing has changed. ;-)" The last item in the PDF is a scan of a transfer receipt: On December 4th, 2001 Cloanto Italia SRL transfered 1022,58 Euro (i.e. 2000 DM) to an account at the Sparkasse Ulm. Recipient: Abt&Kneer GbR. Reason for payment: "Picasso96". Approached by amiga-news.de, Jens Schönfeld did not question the authenticity of the mails published by Cloanto, but states that these mails have been "taken out ouf context" to make people "draw wrong conclusions". He didn't want to elaborate any further, stating that both parties' lawyers were currently working on this issue. (cg) [News message: 18. Feb. 2019, 21:28] [Comments: 0] [Send via e-mail] [Print version] [ASCII version]
`05.Feb.2019` MorphZone (Forum)	Legal dispute: Amiga Inc. transferred rights to company of Mike Battilana In the legal dispute between the Amiga and parties and Cloanto, recently Hyperion doubted the legality of Cloanto's involvement. According to the latest court documents (PDF file), on February 1, 2019, Amiga Inc. transferred "all worldwide rights, title and interest in and to all AMIGA-formative trademarks, including but not limited to the "Exclusive Licensed Marks" as that term is defined in the 2009 "Settlement Agreement", and the "Boing Ball" design mark" to C-A Acquisition Corporation" which with its only director Mike Battilana has the same owner as Cloanto. For several years Cloanto has collected the heritage of Commodore (amiga-news.de reported) in order - according to Cloanto - to preserve it. To the the "Exclusive Licensed Marks" also belong the trademarks "AmigaOS", "Amiga OS", "AmigaOne" and "Amiga One". Therefore Cloanto will apply for admission of C-A Acquisition Corporation as another plaintiff. Besides, Cloanto as sucessor of Amiga Inc. again reasserted to have the right to sue Hyperion for breach of contract. The former transfer of the copyrights from Amiga Inc. to Cloanto again is documented in court (PDF files: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5). Furthermore Hyperion tries to prove some of the claims of the Amiga parties and Cloanto as void because they interfere into other countries' jurisdiction. This is countered by the statement that Hyperion explicitly got the worldwide license rights and therefore is internationally bound to respect the settlement agreement - which would have been broken by the attempt to register Amiga related trademarks in other countries. (snx) (Translation: dr) [News message: 05. Feb. 2019, 21:57] [Comments: 0] [Send via e-mail] [Print version] [ASCII version]
`28.Dec.2018` Amiga.org (Forum)	Lawsuit: Application for an interim injunction against Hyperion In the legal dispute with Hyperion Entertainment (amiga-news.de reported), Amiga Inc., Itec, Amino and Cloanto now have applied for an interim injunction. With the document (PDF file) Hyperion is supposed to be legally prohibted to sell AmigaOS 3.1.4. This application is based on the claimed break of the settlement agreement from 2009 by using the trademark AmigaOS and the Boing-Ball as well as by selling AmigaOS 3.1.4 including Hyperion's claim to be copyright holder. The involvement of Cloanto is based on its copyright on AmigaOS 3.1 and furthermore on signing of evidences 3 of the former agreement by Cloanto. The application also confirms that the temporary stop of sales was based on a cease-and-desist letter. Only Hyperion's first service provider, Avangate, did respond but finally informed to continue saling the software as long as a preliminary injunction is not provided. According to conversations of Cloanto with third parties, Hyperion did ensure compensation to the service providers in case of legal actions. With regard to Hyperion's rights it is said that in the claim in 2007 it was tried to assert section 2.07 of the OEM licence of 2001 which says that Hyperion is allowed to develop further AmigaOS 3.1 and to use its trademarks in case of the insolvency of Amiga Inc. The 2009 settlement agreement was only related to AmigaOS 4. As proof of evidence also Hyperion's own press release is used. With regard to Cloanto it is said that one of the purposes of the settlement agreement has been to protect diverse rights acquired in 1994. Additional to the usage for the emulator Amiga Forever since 1997, Cloanto could use AmigaOS 1.1 to 3.0 on real Amigas since 1998 and AmigaOS 3.1 since 1999. In the years 2011 to 2016 Cloanto then among others acquired AmigaOS 3.1. The copyright for this version of the operating system the company already registered on 27. April 2007. By breaking the settlement agreement and selling AmigaOS 3.1.4 financial losses were incurred but also a loss of reputation, the goodwill and of customers. Additionally on 30. November Cloanto was informed by one of its biggest trader that due to Hyperion's statement to the ownership on AmigaOS 3.1.4, Cloanto's AmigaOS-3.1 products are not sold any longer. In several countries the Cloanto's sales have collapsed. Apart from the losses of Cloanto and the Amiga parties, the application for a temporary injunction is justified by the settlement agreement itself. Provided in paragraph 16, such an apllication is allowed without any proof of an actual loss. Besides, the majority of the sales volume of AmigaOS 3.1.4 was done in the first half of 2018 which generates an additional urgency. (snx) (Translation: dr) [News message: 28. Dec. 2018, 20:28] [Comments: 0] [Send via e-mail] [Print version] [ASCII version]

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