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Re: Apple Roms
>This is similar to the problems with the early PC clone BIOS chips,
>which were created by reverse engineering the IBM ROMS. Clones only
>became legal when "non-infringing" BIOS, based on clean-room
>development, became available.
The samething happened with the ROMless Apple ][ and //e clones when
they were released. Apple shut them down. Only when a legal clone of
the ROM came on the market could Apple get away with it.
The fact that somebody else has done something doesn't make it
necessarily legal. Not all infringers are prosecuted. For instance,
Apple has historically tolerated homemade clones and not gone after the
hobbyists who did so. There is too much bad PR associated with it.
Look how bad Disney hurt its image going after daycare centers which
had Disney characters painted on the walls without Disney's permission.
Warner Bros. scored a PR coup by going around whitewashing the walls
from infringing Mickey's and painting legal Bug's in their place.
Society doesn't like Goliath's picking on Davids and corporate America
therefore makes a risk assessment before bringing such suits. A $200
Mac from ARDI which is mass-marketed probably would be worth the
potential black-eye that the suit would cause.
Stu
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