Commodore trademarks in Canada

[ral-clan]

Hi,

I found this database that lists all the trademarks registered by Commodore Canada (and later owned by Escom) when those companies were active.
It lists "Vicessories", "VIC-20", "Commodore 16", several mottos, etc.

One interesting this I had never heard of is that Commodore had a logo and trademark for something called "Sensor".

https://www.ic.gc.ca/app/opic-cipo/trdm ... entTab=reg

The lists also includes other results from companies not related to Commodore Canada (the computer company).

EDIT: the search results don't seem to be "linkable"....so just do a search for the keyword "Commodore" to see the same results I found.

[Jeff-20]

I still don't know what's up with the rights. Am I even allowed to use the logo we have in the upper left corner? This article was interesting...

https://www.nostalgianerd.com/commodore-heist/

[huffelduff]

Hi there Jeffrey,

I still don't know what's up with the rights. Am I even allowed to use the logo we have in the upper left corner? This article was interesting...

I've wondered about the ROM copyrights for the VIC and 64. I'm concerned that one day someone finally obtains the rights to the ROMS and ends up saying that a VIC or 64 emulator is not allowed to be bundled with them anymore. If I recall that is what happened with MAME (Multiple Arcade Machine Emulator).

Maybe I'm behind the times on this, so let me rather ask a question to the forum:
Does anyone know the copyright status of the system ROMS (BIOS and BASIC) for the VIC/C16/C64 and so on?

Greetings

H

[tokra]

In fact the Commodore-ROMs current owner appears to be Cloanto. At least they seem to have the best claim to those as the copyright-situation is kind of murky since Commodore's demise. Whether the claim is valid or not, what it comes down to is: Do you want to risk to be sued by Cloanto or not?

See here for more info/discussion:

https://amiga-news.de/en/news/AN-2015-02-00027-EN.html

https://www.lemon64.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=73857

[huffelduff]

Do you want to risk to be sued by Cloanto or not?

Thanks for the links Tokra,

It was an interesting read. Yes it seems as if Cloanto has the best copyright claim.
If I followed the conversation correctly it seems that Cloanto would have to copyright register the ROMS before they litigate. I thought copyright was automatic but I guess because of the copyright question marks regarding post bankruptcy Commodore, some form of formal registration would have to be done.
Someone also noted that Cloanto (in the meantime) could DMCA anyone hosting software which contain the ROMS.

Thanks

H