Quote:
Originally Posted by michaelz
Both Hyperion and Cloanto own pieces of the code. Cloanto pre-1993, Hyperion thereafter. The case is simple, Amiga Inc does own the trademarks. This is well documented by the European trademark office for example.
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"Well documented" trademarks are no guarantee of ownership. There is title insurance for a similar reason. If the title were later deemed invalid or found to be fraudulent, the buyer lost his investment. For example, let's say Amiga Inc. was financially insolvent and decided to create a new company to pass on all the valuable assets before declaring bankruptcy (one indicator might be a non quid pro quo transfer). Then the new company changes its name to Amiga Inc. with all the debt gone. This would be fraudulent with the ownership of assets remaining with the first company to be handled by the bankruptcy judge (usually sold) to pay to creditors (and stock holders if any money remains). All subsequent transactions of these assets by the latter Amiga Inc. would then be invalid (buyers would be in a similar situation to someone who has bought stolen goods and would lose their investment). This is why it is especially important to have a good contract/patent lawyer to research transactions, especially with shady companies.