Spectrum Computing

8BitAG wrote: ↑Thu Aug 22, 2019 11:37 am

shallymoo wrote: ↑Thu Aug 22, 2019 11:15 am Great Escape and Where Time Stood Still are also available on Steam (although do not appear to be the Spectrum Versions) - they form part of a Ocean Classics Volume 1

They are the DOS ports from back in the day. Not the best.

Although I imagine in this example its all above board, I always wonder when I see these things as to who has granted permission for their release and how the original contracts, regarding royalties, are honoured. It seems like an almost impossible task to track down the correct people to do things correctly, as we've seen in the past with some crowdfunded projects. Just getting permission from whoever says they own the IP doesn't, to me, seem to be enough.

they bought the rights of head over heels apparently:"Retrospec did the game without rights or license. We actually own this IP and went through the trouble of buying the game and the IP.

Then we went through the trouble of buying this version from Retrospec.

Also it has a new soundtrack"

Yep, this Head over Heels on Steam is actually Retrospec version which was available for free on Retrospec website for years.

Recently our old "friend" Paul Andrews (yes, the man from the Vega+ saga) started to purchase licenses for old Spectrum games
and I believe he's behind that Head over Heels story.

I've also seen a discussion on Facebook where it was mentioned that he probably purchased rights for Horace games as well
and that he's currently harrasing people that use Horace character in their creations

Make your own opinion about it.

Ralf wrote: ↑Thu Aug 22, 2019 2:46 pm Yep, this Head over Heels on Steam is actually Retrospec version which was available for free on Retrospec website for years.

Recently our old "friend" Paul Andrews (yes, the man from the Vega+ saga) started to purchase licenses for old Spectrum games
and I believe he's behind that Head over Heels story.

I've also seen a discussion on Facebook where it was mentioned that he probably purchased rights for Horace games as well
and that he's currently harrasing people that use Horace character in their creations

Make your own opinion about it.

Piko Interactive isn't Paul Andrews; Andrews has apparently bought the "trademarks" of Horace and Miner Willy and is getting merchandise removed from sites like RedBubble. Meanwhile, it's Steve Wilcox of Elite who is claiming to own the "copyright" on Miner Willy and is sending out demands for £1500 in "damages".

Facebook's not the best place for accurate information on this as there's a certain person there with an agenda against Andrews, and that person is the reason this forum exists!

8BitAG wrote: ↑Thu Aug 22, 2019 1:11 pm

Joefish wrote: ↑Thu Aug 22, 2019 12:21 pm It's more the titles of movie tie-ins like 'The Great Escape', or licenses of arcade conversions, where I wonder how they perpetuate.

Was The Great Escape actually a licensed game? I know it has the movie's music. It's one of those topics that I've heard arguments about in the past.

The manual of the Great Escape explained it wasn't related to any movie,etc. The plot of the game also has absolutely nothing to do with, it, , only common point is it talks about a prisoner

Piko Interactive isn't Paul Andrews; Andrews has apparently bought the "trademarks" of Horace and Miner Willy and is getting merchandise removed from sites like RedBubble. Meanwhile, it's Steve Wilcox of Elite who is claiming to own the "copyright" on Miner Willy and is sending out demands for £1500 in "damages".

So now they both claim that they own copyrights for Miner Willy? That's getting hilarious

Unfortunately that's how bringing back Spectrum games to wide audience looks in practice.

The manual of the Great Escape explained it wasn't related to any movie,etc. The plot of the game also has absolutely nothing to do with, it, , only common point is it talks about a prisoner

It's obviously related to the movie but you may be partially right as it seems they didn't pay any cash to the movie creators so it's not
an official license. Somehow they got through with it.

Any resemblance to any actual movie is purely coincidental. No sh*t, Sherlock

Ralf wrote: ↑Thu Aug 22, 2019 4:47 pm It's obviously related to the movie but you may be partially right as it seems they didn't pay any cash to the movie creators so it's not
an official license. Somehow they got through with it.

Any resemblance to any actual movie is purely coincidental. No sh*t, Sherlock

Aside from the use of the "march" (and sharing the title & theme) there aren't any other obvious ties to the movie anywhere.

Mind you, it wouldn't be unusual for the 1980s to have licensed a tune and base the game around that, rather than obtain a license for the movie, TV show, or other property that the tune was from!

I noticed zx spectrum and DOS appears to be the only ones having the March music, c64 has a specific music, Amstrad has none.

In which manner will affect the way Paul Andrews actings sueing or banning ZX Spectrum stuff from WOS site to other ZX Spectrum webs? Quite recently, all Automata stuff has been removed from WOS archive, and I believe he's behind what Fogarty had to do (supposingly) against his will.

I wonder if it could be a form to stop/ban him before the damage is all done and say goodbye to retrogaming as we already know. He is not the first "entrepeneur" who tries to make his August at the expense of the goodwill of all Spectrum community (and also from other systems affected or to be affected in the next future) for ages.

He’s stated he’s fine with people using Horace and other IPs he owns, except if they’re sold commercially that the company makes a donation to charity instead of the license fee.

I think asking WoS to remove Automata games might be retaliation for Lee’s alleged involvement during the Vega+ campaign.

He also doesn’t own Head Over Heels. But he does now own Match Day and other Ocean titles.

toot_toot wrote: ↑Thu Oct 17, 2019 10:01 pm He’s stated he’s fine with people using Horace and other IPs he owns, except if they’re sold commercially that the company makes a donation to charity instead of the license fee.

Frankly this sounds quite reasonable to me...

Einar Saukas wrote: ↑Fri Oct 18, 2019 1:16 am

toot_toot wrote: ↑Thu Oct 17, 2019 10:01 pm He’s stated he’s fine with people using Horace and other IPs he owns, except if they’re sold commercially that the company makes a donation to charity instead of the license fee.

Frankly this sounds quite reasonable to me...

And me too. Very reasonable.

However, we can't ignore the fact that the aggressive policing of the Horace IP regarding Octavius is well out of order and concerns about sexualising Horace are just plain weird. It's one local example, but it's generally concerning. He's seen the response - a bewilderment of horny horaces all over twitter and ill-will towards his own commercial projects. I hope he's capable of realising he's massively dropped a bollock and learns accordingly.

toot_toot wrote: ↑Thu Oct 17, 2019 10:01 pm I think asking WoS to remove Automata games might be retaliation for Lee’s alleged involvement during the Vega+ campaign.

There's nothing "alleged" about it. Mel Croucher spoke to The Register anonymously about not being paid over Automata games on the Vega, then Fogarty went and named him on twitter. Mark Cale of System 3 also had his games taken down because Fogarty was going around saying Cale was lying about not being paid.

R-Tape wrote: ↑Fri Oct 18, 2019 5:17 am
And me too. Very reasonable.

However, we can't ignore the fact that the aggressive policing of the Horace IP regarding Octavius is well out of order and concerns about sexualising Horace are just plain weird. It's one local example, but it's generally concerning. He's seen the response - a bewilderment of horny horaces all over twitter and ill-will towards his own commercial projects. I hope he's capable of realising he's massively dropped a bollock and learns accordingly.

Yip. He also has the right to protect his trademarks, but it was the manner he did it in that grates.
Incidently, you can see his other trademarks at https://trademarks.ipo.gov.uk/ipo-tmown ... 8&domain=1
Look at the state of that Manic Miner logo and sprite. FFS!
Here’s what I think about all this. I thi [REDACTED]

I think the overreaction to this is the thing that annoys me. He got in touch with YouTube because he was unhappy how his IP was being used. It wasn't because he owns the IP and doesn't want anyone to use it or he wanted them taken down for commercial reasons. He was unhappy how it was being used in a sexual manner. That's his prerogative. YouTube then issued copyright strikes against Octavius Kitten, how YouTube administers its copyright management might be very hard lined, but it's a company that deals with 300+ videos being uploaded a minute. It likely doesn't care or have time for a YouTuber that has under 10k views per video.

However, the mob like thinking to then attack him, including threats of physical violence, when he hadn't even given his side of the story, unfortunately is a sad reflection of British retro gaming. It's also sad that one of the "good guys" when it comes to IP is now being attacked. He was behind the original Vega and The 64, he's clearly stated he's happy for any of his IP to be used as long as there is a charitable donation if the game is sold commercially and yet there's a mob mentality to hound him out.

toot_toot wrote: ↑Fri Oct 18, 2019 9:01 am I think the overreaction to this is the thing that annoys me. He got in touch with YouTube because he was unhappy how his IP was being used. It wasn't because he owns the IP and doesn't want anyone to use it or he wanted them taken down for commercial reasons. He was unhappy how it was being used in a sexual manner.

Don't you think that's absurd? Anyway, I don't even recall there being anything that saucy.

That's his prerogative.

And with hindsight (surprised it's needed to be honest!), has he judged the mood of a significant portion of his potential customer base well?

toot_toot wrote: ↑Fri Oct 18, 2019 9:01 am It's also sad that one of the "good guys" when it come to IP

I think we’ll have to agree to disagree here. *shrug*

redballoon wrote: ↑Fri Oct 18, 2019 10:07 am

toot_toot wrote: ↑Fri Oct 18, 2019 9:01 am It's also sad that one of the "good guys" when it come to IP

I think we’ll have to agree to disagree here. *shrug*

I guess we will have to agree to disagree!

He has stated he is more than happy with any IP he owns can be used, as long as his company is credited and if it's a commercial release, that his company's license fees are donated to charity. If he does continue with that approach, then at least he's acquired some IP that are now free from being exploited from the likes of the company that bought the Head over Heels licence, amongst others, or the likes of Tim Langdell who claimed to own the rights to the use of the name "Edge" in anything to do with games. Hopefully Andrews continues with that viewpoint and this incident hasn't made him change his mind.

I'd much rather see IP rights being bought up by someone who is part of the retro community and is happy with the games being freely distributed, but any commercial usage needs to be donated to charity. Or else we end up with someone like Atari suing everyone under the sun, like for using Breakout in a Kit Kat advert!

This thing about charities donations is just an excuse. GRRRR

Why can't people move on and create new stuff ? Specially if the old stuff is troublesome or negative.
Move on and create an original character, with no problems attached, and make your videos, games, etc. in peace.

Why can't people move on and create new stuff ? Specially if the old stuff is troublesome or negative.

Because people still care about Sabreman, Horace, Miner Willy and Monty Mole.

But they won't care about Cutlassboy, Virgilio, Fred the Milkman and Bobby Badger

4thRock wrote: ↑Fri Oct 18, 2019 11:51 am Why can't people move on and create new stuff ? Specially if the old stuff is troublesome or negative.
Move on and create an original character, with no problems attached, and make your videos, games, etc. in peace.

Because it's mostly about nostalgia.

I would add characters like Horace are true 80s icons.

People need to take a closer look at the Miner Willy sprite image he's trademarked. A really close look.

Another land grab. The thing about IP is that it stands for intellectual property. There is nothing intellectual about recent events.