Awivax.120
net.games.pacman
utzoo!decvax!wivax!dyer
Tue Apr 13 21:57:17 1982
ATARI policy towards similar games
At the risk of starting a long controversy (or maybe it's been mentioned
before, I dunno) I'd like to ask what other people think about ATARI's
policy of prosecuting individuals or firms that sell software games which
resemble their products. We are not dealing with software piracy, in the
strict sense. Rather, their intent, if I understand it (and I am very willing
to be corrected on this) is to suppress the distribution of "look-alike"
games which are completely "original" pieces of software, sharing no code
with the ATARI version, but, of course, share a similar appearance or
conception.
I bring this up to this news group, since "pacman" is now completely
"owned" by ATARI in the US. Where do we stand? I have to admit that
I was really flabbergasted when I read ATARI's announcements in major
newspapers of their intentions, and I don't feel very sympathetic.
It's very much a Goliath vs David thing. Can you imagine what furor
there would be if AT&T tried to carry out a similar policy towards
"UNIX-like" systems? How can they do this? Is there any precedent
for their behavior?
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