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New Atari Console that Ataribox?


Goochman

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Of all the internet weirdos you'll find on forums, I never get tired of seeing the "For-profit corporations are secretly funding passion projects, and the 'financial reports' are just a cover-up."  Types.  These specific posters are pretty rare, and when they do show up, it's not even worth arguing, because they're basically saying that water isn't wet.

 

But they're darned amusing.

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On 3/7/2020 at 6:52 AM, Flojomojo said:

The Atari Vs. Hyperkin case is the nut of the debate over whether Atari can prevent someone else from making a console or joystick controller with a similar look and feel as the 1977 oldies. 

 

Atari sends cease and desist letters and brings lawsuits against others for making t-shirts and stickers with pictures of joysticks and consoles, but to my knowledge, Atari doesn't make much official gear of their own with these images. I suppose there's that $30 box of junky trinkets sold at Target during the holidays. Far more often, they use their holdings offensively, acting as trademark trolls to collect damages from accused infringers. 
 

Their stockholder information lists losing trademarks as risks. It seems likely that they know they're on shaky legal ground. 
 

Hyperkin, like Target, doesn't seem to be taking this lying down. 
 

Like the rest of the market, Atari stock isn't doing much lately. They're posting near-record lows again. 

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Atari has ZERO rights of ownership of the old joystick design.  
 

I can tell you this for a fact.  I’ve been selling my USB Classic Controllers for 12 years and Atari has known about this since day one and I even had their head of legal confront my in 2008 and said there was nothing Atari could do.  The patents expired, they haven’t used the design in over 13 years 92-05 so they can’t claim trade dress either.  Atari has knowingly allowed the sale of joysticks that are similar to the old 78 design and their actions (or lack of) remove any form of argument for them to use.

 

Furthermore, Hasbro bought IP rights, no patents, no designs, no holdings.  Atari owns game copyrights & trademarks, therefor Infogrames has no position of enforcement of product trade dress.  

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9 hours ago, DurradonXylles said:

See here's a thing about trademark and patent law: they aren't interchangeable. If there's anything I've learned from watching Lawful Masses recently, it's that you cannot trademark anything tangible. Atari's case is already shaky because they are entering the case trying to say that Hyperkin is ripping off logos or motiffs from the 2600 and the clone consoles AtGames are producing under license. On top of the fact that this is a hard case to prove under normal circumstances, it's nearly impossible when you look at it and compare to the 2600:

M07280_Pkg_Product__85320.1528827912.128 1200px-Atari-2600-Wood-4Sw-Set.jpg

 

I am going to state right now, I'm not a copyright, trademark or patent lawyer, and all of what I just said are simply what I've picked up from actual lawyers on YouTube. But I've come to understand quite clearly from multiple cases where entities tried to exploit such laws that trademark cannot be interchangeably used with copyright or patents since they cannot be legally used on anything tangible or physical. In my opinion: the intended course Atari wants the lawsuit  to take is for there to be an opening to use the long dead patents of the Atari 2600 as a means to prolong the case and hope Hyperkin will eventually want to settle, or to signify that stating compatibility with Atari 2600/Atari VCS games are not legal to state on the console or in a manual (again, to string the case out and force Hyperkin to settle). This is likely because several trademarks surrounding the 2600 are probably going to expire within the coming months, and Atari needs to prove that they're still using them in order to not lose them or be forced to release something that would utilize said trademarks.

 

The issue with them attempting to do this is that hardware is not trademarkable, the patents for the 2600 are long dead, and the logos and mentions of hardware compatibility and usage of the Atari name to demonstrate as such is considered fair use as multiple other cases (including the big one about emulation: Sony Computer Entertainment v. bleem Software) have shown. Atari cannot even pull Sony's BS by claiming unfair competition since they haven't produced a physical cartridge since 1995 (1990 for the 2600), Hyperkin isn't offering software with the Retron 77, and the hardware produced with Atari's license are only plug-n-plays that cannot play carts. Even with the assumption that this suit is about enforcing trademarks as to not lose them to expiring, this case is deeply flawed by the fact that Atari's going in on bad faith and/or anything they could try to use for their case is more than likely covered by fair use.

Yes, however even after a patent expires, you have what’s called Trade Dress (the look of a product) however just like trademarks, trade dress has a 3 year non-use abandonment clause.  Atari stopped making the classic 77/78 joysticks in 92 and by 94 the patents had expired. 96 Atari ceased to exist and was merged into JTS which ran a division called Atari Interactive. In 98 Hasbro buys all the game copyrights & IP from JTS, Infogrames buys Habros gaming assets - Atari Interactive among them.  So from 96 through 2001 Atari is a software only company.  No hardware has been produced.  Their last know hardware - the Jaguar is the only thing people remember of Atari and the only controller is the Jaguar controller.  Atari has abandoned its trade dress on its joysticks, it can’t argue Residual goodwill because everyone in mainstream culture has forgotten about Atari, it’s been a software company for 5 years straight until the Jakks Pacific 10in1 license.

 

On their console, that’s a lost cause... Atari back in 1984-1992 abandoned the entire trade dress of the 77-83 VCS design, in 83 Atari itself abandoned its wood grain usage.  Most of the mainstream public only knows the 2600 as the wedged shaped 2600jr design.

 

Atari has ZERO standing on that.  This case is a no win for them.

 

 

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Speaking of old PDubs I think we are past the point of his banishment from this thread aren't we?

 

After a certain time frame should things like bans and moderated posts be lifted?

 

Maybe he is ready to have some tacos.

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49 minutes ago, godslabrat said:

The hilarious thing is that Hyperkin has made a habit out of using IP they have no right to use... and they're getting the runaround on a console they actually did legit!!

I suppose it's a case of "the enemy of my enemy", etc., though it seems like Hyperkin at least tried to be decent about the Retron 77. Previous products... Well, everyone is aware of that stuff.

Brazen abuse of things like GPL is why I won't buy products from a company like that, though I admit I'm still considering the Retron 77 because it appears to be all above-board. This is also the main reason (but not the only one) that I've refused to buy THEC64. 

 

What I really want to know is why Atari SA thought this lawsuit was a good idea. Sure, against a small company, they could easily get a default judgement as we've already seen because the other party can't even afford to defend themselves, but Hyperkin can - either they actually expected to win (in which case, they're crazy), or they're just trying to sink Hyperkin by hurling legal fees at them (which could backfire if Atari has to pay those in the end). Maybe Curt has a better explanation. 

 

The most important question though is whether Atari bought the rights to the Net Jet from Hasbro. 

Edited by TankedThomas
Revenge of the Autocorrect
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10 hours ago, Curt Vendel said:

Atari has ZERO standing on that.  This case is a no win for them.

So...today's Atari is equally adept at making legal maneuvers and game consoles? 


I hope that, in the long run, the legal boondoggles don't end up costing the console backers (not me) all of their money, but that's sorta starting to smell like a possibility.

 

If the console does ultimately come to fruition, maybe it will usher in a series of games featuring a brand new hero: The MisAdventures of Ichabod Phineas Troll.

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23 hours ago, racerx said:

If you want to show love of the product, send them a heartfelt greeting card or something.

Easier said than done since the address listed isn't actually the correct address. Last time I had sent mail to them it had come back undeliverable and the phone numbers were also disconnected, called to get a current address but couldn't even get that. It's amazing that anyone is able to do business with them.

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Y'all were laughing at Atari's stock but given the crappy day(s) in the markets WHO IS LAUGHING NOW!!!! HAHAHAHAHAH:

 

pongfutures.thumb.jpg.d9edfd919c09a82ac5383a24e0fd3546.jpg

 

My Pong-based speculation is totally gonna make me a billionaire as defined by me. You thought this was a $20 joke investment? No! Doing way better than the couple of bucks I buried in the backyard then forgot where I dug it as a kid. 

 

For other big-money investors like myself out there I strongly suggest buying crappy stocks that stay crappy. At least then you won't be disappointed or scared. 

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3 hours ago, Mockduck said:

Y'all were laughing at Atari's stock but given the crappy day(s) in the markets WHO IS LAUGHING NOW!!!! HAHAHAHAHAH:

 

pongfutures.thumb.jpg.d9edfd919c09a82ac5383a24e0fd3546.jpg

 

My Pong-based speculation is totally gonna make me a billionaire as defined by me. You thought this was a $20 joke investment? No! Doing way better than the couple of bucks I buried in the backyard then forgot where I dug it as a kid. 

 

For other big-money investors like myself out there I strongly suggest buying crappy stocks that stay crappy. At least then you won't be disappointed or scared. 

tenor.gif?itemid=15434840

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3 hours ago, Mockduck said:

Y'all were laughing at Atari's stock but given the crappy day(s) in the markets WHO IS LAUGHING NOW!!!! HAHAHAHAHAH:

 

pongfutures.thumb.jpg.d9edfd919c09a82ac5383a24e0fd3546.jpg

 

My Pong-based speculation is totally gonna make me a billionaire as defined by me. You thought this was a $20 joke investment? No! Doing way better than the couple of bucks I buried in the backyard then forgot where I dug it as a kid. 

 

For other big-money investors like myself out there I strongly suggest buying crappy stocks that stay crappy. At least then you won't be disappointed or scared. 

Are you being sarcastic? I genuinely can't tell at this point. 

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4 hours ago, Clint Thompson said:

Easier said than done since the address listed isn't actually the correct address. Last time I had sent mail to them it had come back undeliverable and the phone numbers were also disconnected, called to get a current address but couldn't even get that. It's amazing that anyone is able to do business with them.

Sounds about the same as being a developer and emailing them.

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13 hours ago, Mockduck said:

Y'all were laughing at Atari's stock but given the crappy day(s) in the markets WHO IS LAUGHING NOW!!!! HAHAHAHAHAH:

 

pongfutures.thumb.jpg.d9edfd919c09a82ac5383a24e0fd3546.jpg

 

My Pong-based speculation is totally gonna make me a billionaire as defined by me. You thought this was a $20 joke investment? No! Doing way better than the couple of bucks I buried in the backyard then forgot where I dug it as a kid. 

 

For other big-money investors like myself out there I strongly suggest buying crappy stocks that stay crappy. At least then you won't be disappointed or scared. 

 

I am definitely "LAUGHING NOW!!!!" Jerry ... and it's got nothing to do with the markets. 

 

monkeybrains.gif.9ce12c76b986cd4f2dab57b50b05d486.giflaughing.gif.329b636aa70ad3cb554007a43d572d6c.gif

 

 

meanwhile.gif.6ffa1a4f6e7ec941f112f262dfc56969.gif

 

A new announcement from Ataco up at ATARI Investisseurs, including new game launch details, Ashoebox manufacturing update, Atari Token details and Casino dribble.  Some interesting details.

If you like taco's, CLICK HERE.

 

 

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