Well I couldn't think of a better steward for the brand than Perifractic
Yep. I don't watch his content very often, but I've done so throughout the years and can't really think of anyone else who could do it "right"
YouTuber claims to have received an offer to buy the Commodore brand
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Re: YouTuber claims to have received an offer to buy the Commodore brand
#12I watched the video and support the effort. They seemed earnest and genuine in their desire to do right by the brand's legacy. However, I can't help but feel that releasing this information before the deal is in place is doing themselves a disservice. I can understand their excitement, but this could harm or derail any negotiation efforts. Business 101: don't count your chickens before they hatch.
In this case not chickens, but chickenheads.
Re: YouTuber claims to have received an offer to buy the Commodore brand
#13I feel like the real story isn't 'Can We Save Commodore?' but 'What IS Commodore anymore?'. If it's just a trademark disconnected from its original tech, you're not reviving a legend, you're just starting a new company with a famous name.
Kind of the same situation with Atari
Re: YouTuber claims to have received an offer to buy the Commodore brand
#14I watched the video and support the effort. They seemed earnest and genuine in their desire to do right by the brand's legacy. However, I can't help but feel that releasing this information before the deal is in place is doing themselves a disservice. I can understand their excitement, but this could harm or derail any negotiation efforts. Business 101: don't count your chickens before they hatch.
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Re: YouTuber claims to have received an offer to buy the Commodore brand
#15IMHO, what would give real value to retro enthusiasts is BSD licensing all the Commodore (and Amiga) IP, rather than these constant efforts to slap the chicken lips logo onto some random hardware in the hope of charging premium for an "official" product.
Would any of the many replacement/emulation/FPGA efforts that already exist be better with a specific logo? More convenient? Cheaper? More successful? I have serious doubts.
This feels, as the saying goes, like a big fat nothingburger.
Re: YouTuber claims to have received an offer to buy the Commodore brand
#16I feel like the real story isn't 'Can We Save Commodore?' but 'What IS Commodore anymore?'. If it's just a trademark disconnected from its original tech, you're not reviving a legend, you're just starting a new company with a famous name.
The only 'real' claim I could see to saving Commodore would be something adding backwards compatability this late in the game. It would be of dubious utility, but it would give a claim to legitimacy. Otherwise you might as well let it stay dead because there isn't anything to be gained from using it.
Re: YouTuber claims to have received an offer to buy the Commodore brand
#17Earlier quoted context omitted.
Maybe, but better if the trademarks were released to the public domain (however that could be achieved).
I don’t think you can have a public domain trademark; that doesn’t make sense with the concept. A trademark is specifically to identify the source of a product or service; if it were public domain and anyone could use it, its purpose would’ve been defeated.
Trademarks can become genericized, which is a bit like them falling into the public domain. (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Generic_trademark) However I don't know if the owner of a trademark can legally make it generic.
Re: YouTuber claims to have received an offer to buy the Commodore brand
#18Earlier quoted context omitted.
Maybe, but better if the trademarks were released to the public domain (however that could be achieved).
I don’t think you can have a public domain trademark; that doesn’t make sense with the concept. A trademark is specifically to identify the source of a product or service; if it were public domain and anyone could use it, its purpose would’ve been defeated.
I think it's a clever idea, an "open trademark".
Independent certification that something fits a brand but anyone is allowed to use the brand if they pass certification.
It would need a non-profit or government support though.
Things like "Organic" already do that a bit, but it doesn't work too well over there.
Re: YouTuber claims to have received an offer to buy the Commodore brand
#19I feel like the real story isn't 'Can We Save Commodore?' but 'What IS Commodore anymore?'. If it's just a trademark disconnected from its original tech, you're not reviving a legend, you're just starting a new company with a famous name.
Famous with old people. The new generation has no idea
There are people now that know what a Commodire 64 is but have never heard of an Amiga. The C64 made a cultural impression that lasts today. I'm not sure why but anongst those born after both machines had had their day, quite a few have an idea what the C64 was.
Talking to the younger generation about the 8 bit era is wild. I mentioned that my first system (TRS-80) had 4k to someone and they expressed surprise at that you could get a monitor that good back then.
Re: YouTuber claims to have received an offer to buy the Commodore brand
#20Earlier quoted context omitted.
I don’t think you can have a public domain trademark; that doesn’t make sense with the concept. A trademark is specifically to identify the source of a product or service; if it were public domain and anyone could use it, its purpose would’ve been defeated.
Trademarks can become genericized, which is a bit like them falling into the public domain. ( https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Generic_trademark ) However I don't know if the owner of a trademark can legally make it generic.
> Trademarks can become genericized
That’s not the same thing. Trademarks become generalised terms in the public’s mind, not legally. Two people in conversation might refer to a non-Xerox photocopier as a Xerox, but a non-Xerox photocopier company can’t just advertise their products as being Xerox.
Additionally, from the wikipedia page you linked (emphasis mine):
> A trademark thus popularized is at risk of being challenged or revoked, unless the trademark owner works sufficiently to correct and prevent such broad use.
Which, again, goes directly counter to the idea of a public domain trademark.