Oric ROM copyright

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Xeron
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Oric ROM copyright

Post by Xeron »

Does anyone know who owns the copyright to the Oric ROMs these days?
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Symoon
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Post by Symoon »

To my knowledge: no.
Oric has been the property of many different people, the ROM has been made by several people too, and if you consider there's also a Microsoft basic in it, things might be complicated...
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Xeron
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Post by Xeron »

Well, a lot of 80s computer roms contained microsoft BASIC, but the ROMs remained the entire property of the company behind the computer (in general). I'm sure this would have been the case with the Oric. Usually when a company goes bust, the intellectual property (such as ownership of rights to products) are usually sold off. It would be interesting to know where the rights to the Oric ROMs ended up.

If they weren't sold off, I guess they reverted to the individuals who put together the ROM.
JamesD
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Post by JamesD »

Companies purchased a license for Microsoft BASIC for which they either paid a flat fee or by number of sales depending on the contract. I think the latter is most likely. That did not transfer full ownership to the company in most cases.

I believe Commodore was an exception to the rule as they continued to add to the language and modify it after the PET.
<edit>
BTW, this is why the VTech Laser 128 was legal. Apple's license wasn't exclusive and VTech just licensed most of the ROM.
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iss
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Post by iss »

Talking about M$ here is little program for your Oric/8D/Emulator

Code: Select all


1 '***********************
2 ' MICROSOFT! Easter Egg
3 '***********************
4 B=#E435 : E=B+9
5 FOR I=E TO B STEP -1
6 J=PEEK(I) : J=J-INT(J/64)*64
7 IF I>B THEN A$=A$+CHR$(J+64) ELSE A$=A$+CHR$(J)
8 NEXT I
9 PRINT A$

and more info here.
____________________________
Emul8D
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Chema
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Post by Chema »

:lol:

This one was great... I wonder if there is any instruction that plots the message in the ROM basic

EDIT: Ups... no. They stripped the code in the Oric basic, it seems (reading the above link)
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Steve M
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Post by Steve M »

Oric purchased a license to use Microsoft BASIC on the Microtan, but didn't for the Oric, which was why they didn't like to reveal the ROM details.

Microsoft surely don't have an interest in old BASIC? They never pushed it when Oric was a going concern.
As Oric no longer exists, I would expect copyright reverts to the authors. (?)
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