Hyperion VOF Sued by Amiga Inc

Hi @AmiKit

I missed the part where KMOS was reverted back to Amiga Inc ?

Hi @ssolie

Maybe, just maybe, Amiga Inc. want to sell some AmigaOS 4.0 based computer systems and that's it. Madness!

We users overlook the bigger picture of OS security and possible piracy. I see all these goings on as a 'need to know' legal basis. ACK or SAM hardware need legal bindings or AI could lose it all. Just my simple observation...

@Mikey_C

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as is usual with legal cases, you cant talk about anything to do with the case, so until it is finished i hope no one expects to learn any more from the players involved.

even after this happens, depending on how it is done, there could still be a way of working amicably in the future.

At all costs, and from past history, you would have thought everyone involved would try to avoid this situation if they wanted to save what little is now left.

It amazes me after everything that the Amiga has gone through that we are back in court again.

Perhaps it is creating history just for the hell of it, I don't know, perhaps in the hope of releasing it all in some future book:

"The plummet after the fall of Commodore".

Incredible.

@tsifnori

how about since hyperion will not follow amiga.inc in regards to what they say about os4, amiga.inc will now take back os4 by force.

however this does not mean the end of os4!

at the end of the day, no one in hyperion actually did any code, they just did project management, and although they have done it well and for some years, all the people that code os4 are contractors !

change the project management team, license the contractors again, maybe paying them a bit to keep them sweet, and os4 continues under amiga.inc 'guidence'

makes you think.

@ssolie

<blockquote>[speculation]
Personally, I'm speculating this court case is another negotiation tactic to force the final resolution of their contract once and for all. Neither side really wants it to go before a judge so I would expect and hope this will be resolved before that happens. While the court case drags on I would expect neither side can ship any OS4 based products so it makes sense it is resolved sooner rather than later. I suppose Hyperion could launch a counter-suit or fight it until the judge rules but why bother for a product with a very uncertain future anyway.
[/speculation]</blockquote>

On the surface, this seems to be a good bet. It is of course a last ditch effort, and if things don't settle, then I fear there is enough to proceed with.

Hyperion has a good case to maintain that the termination of the license has to be overturned and it remains the distributor of OS4. But the code would have to be given over and the problem of the contractors will have to be resolved by it. Perhaps the IP of the contractors could be secured with a percentage of sales?

The Acube problem is a hell of a lot sticker. Amiga could stick by its guns there, which would be not nice, however, a compromise over timing of release might solve that (please).

I repeat, hopefully AmigaInc is listening, the Amiga Community sales of HW are too small to effect much at all, having a number of different boards, with different specs all running OS4 plus Linux will help the bigger market grow for such HW (in this OS4 really has many points in its favour).

Reading through the documents, AmigaInc's legal case is very strong. In a US court even stronger. Morally, it is a lot less, bu this IS business and that makes me worry.

The moo-bunny chorus has clearly been getting a steady stream of leaked information. I estimated elsewhere 80% of it was FUD, it is clearly now almost the reverse, but not in terms of what is actually going on.

The main sticking point is the handing over of code, and Hyperion has been using this to get a better deal. The fact is that OS4 is much better than it should otherwise be, regardless of going beyond their original brief. That is a value that needs some recognition. There should be compromise and a step by step resolution should not be impossible (ie license renewal co-joined with code surrender).

@derfs

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Of course, that depends on whether the contractors want to work for the new management team.......

Simon

Hyperion?s reaction to the termination of the contract was to quickly announce that the OS is complete and will soon be available, then puts together a worldwide distribution agreement, not mentioning AI, after which they got sued by AI. I?m sorry, but to me it looks as if Hyperion wanted to get sued. It?s almost like they were rubbing AI?s nose in something. I don?t think Ben Hermans would have done that.

@Billsey

But it takes time to get all the needed documents together, doesn't it?

I'd say it's a sad coincidence that the time BMcE finally
filed the lawsuit and Hyperion/ACube strategical partnership
only lies a few days apart...

He probably started getting the docs together right on that
ominous day the contract ran out (20th December 2006?)

I'm worried...as much as to no other time the past years

@Rigo

Quote:

true

after all this happens, a new contract could be made with hyperion resuming their role, but as contractors to amiga.inc.

you never know...

There is one thing i do not understand. If Amiga Inc. has so
much money why can they not give Hyperion (+ the OS4-team)
some extra money for the extra work that is done?

If they would give 50K or 100K for the latest version of the OS
would that be to much?

How much would OS4 be worth by now?

This is very very bad news.
But maybe it's good that this mess will finally get solved. Very sad that they were not able to negotiate and now a judge has to settle it.
Usually a court case means that everything is frozen and the companies are not able to move forward a lot. Court cases can take a loooong time.

What does this mean for ACube and the OS4-distribution? Do you think they will still sell OS4 for Cyberstorm cards? Or will they be too afraid of another court case from Amiga Inc?

Hyperion and ACube are both very small companies, I don't think they can afford good lawyers.

My prediction is that Hyperion looses this battle. Maybe they will even give up earlier, which is cheaper for them. ACube will possibly quit from the Amiga market, very sad, but there is money and hope in the Linux market for them. Amiga Inc and ACK will not release any hardwares soon. Their hardwares is not ready at all, but they announced something to make a good impression on the lawyers.

When Amiga Inc first announced new hardwares, I said that it looks very fishy because Hyperion is not mentioned. Others said that there is no Amiga Inc vs. Hyperion situation, some peoples even said everything about a battle between them was FUD. They were proven wrong unfortunately.

I have a very bad feeling about the future of OS4, but I have not yet decided to quit. There is still a tiny bit of hope left. Maybe I do something else, come back end of 2008 and then there is some new hardwares.

@Dirk-B

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Because they don't need to. This is no charity business. Hyperion should better ask themselves why they have continued to develop it, although they knew that Amiga Inc had the option to buy it back for $25000. They took this risk, but now they shouldn't be surprised about the outcome.

Why did they add these features? In the contract they were asked to do much less features! The more features they develop, the more likely it is that Amiga Inc sees OS4 as attractive and buys it back. Why did Hyperion take such big risks in the first place?
I think Hermans was gambling and hoped that Amiga Inc goes bancrupt. They had only very little money when OS4 was started, but this has changed a lot!

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It doesn't matter. It only matters what the contract says.

One can never get bored in the World of Amiga... :P

@Billsey

Wait until we read the response by the defendant. It may put a very different light on the timeline.

@tsifnori

Probably Hyperion terribly underestimated the liveliness of their business partner and came up with an extremely silly plan to extend on AmigaOS4 until it (in their phantasmal understanding of civil law) could be declared theirs. In my country contracts are there to signify the intent to operate on the terms of a mutual agreement, and I would expect this understanding to be universal enough to apply in Belgium as well.

If someone steals a car and drives around with it for years, would it appease the owner that it had been repainted and equipped with cool accessoires? I don't know if it was incompetence or deliberateness to delay the product by 4 years, but it caused immeasurable damage, not only to Amiga Inc., but to other market contenders as well, which I can't restrain myself from repeating.

Luckily the Friedens have nothing to do with all this annoying stuff, as they keep pointing out, they are just contract workers. I only wonder who the dorks are that are running Hyperion.

@tonyw

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I am sure they will try to twist the release date of OS4. They will claim that they have released OS4 in 2003, although it was only a developer prerelease! Not very convincing.
The final update was also a strange name and everybody was surprised when they announced to do another version with packaging.

Can somebody tell me why Hyperion agreed to the OS4 contract? With the buyback clause, there was too much risk! How could they agree to it?
I can only think that they thought Amiga Inc would go bancrupt when they were very poor in 2002 and 2003. Everything else doesn't make sense.

@Helge

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Actually, it was also classed as a release by Eyetech (and other A1 dealers) who shipped it as the OEM version to Earlybirds.

As for adding features, the scope of OS4 was forced to be greater than agreed, as AI had given the impression that they had done more work on it than they had.

@Chris

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The scope of work is defined by contract.
The contracts are in this directory to read:
http://www.merlancia.us/amiga-hyperion/

What appears to be the original agreement with the scope of work can be found in the declaration by Fleecy - http://www.merlancia.us/amiga-hyperion/decmossshow_case_doc.pdf as exibit "A".

After reading that along with Bill McEwens declaration http://www.merlancia.us/amiga-hyperion/decmcewenshow_case_doc.pdf

Then looking back at past releases by Amiga inc - Try reading this and pay close attention to the date
http://web.archive.org/web/2004033021 ... 5f3981cdcb32d6e1cdbc65e5e
- I can only conclude that Billymc was trying to do what the majority of us wanted but was being hindered by Hyperion.

Of course we only have one side of the story. There may yet be more evidence show up.

@Mikey_C

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That reminds me of a joke I heard when there was a lot of rioting at football matches, "Rioting stopped for 90 minutes when play broke out."