CompuServe Messages

Christian, That's not exactly the story… Amiga Corp. had a cash problem. They'd negotiated a deal with (Warner owned) Atari that would give them x amount of money (it's been too long and I don't remember the actual figure) in return for Atari's use of the Amiga chip set in a "non-computer" product (meaning a game machine). There was an out in the contract … if Amiga Corp repaid the investment in full within a certain period of time the contract was null and void. When Tramiel purchased Atari from Warner he thought he had the rights to the Amiga chip set. He did, but the but the time period for the cancellation of the contract had not expired. With less than a week remaining before the contract was to go into force, Commodore purchased Amiga Corp outright and repaid Atari. There were multiple lawsuits over this action and the accusation of former Commodore employees taking proprietary info with them when they join Tramiel at Atari. Eventually this was all worked out with the outcome going against both companies. Part of the settlement called for the nondisclosure of damages. -sja