I'm wondering which projects survived the transition to the new MAME trademark agreement?
I vaguely recall that ClrMamePro would be allowed to continue using "MAME" in it's name. I presume MAMEWAH has actually not, yet, been granted rights to the name (since Minwah is still on vacation).
Who else? No Name MAME? MAME32? advancemame?
Joseph Elwell.
How about all? The trademark is just a formality and unfortunately, the mame team doesn't have the financial resources to actually act upon any infringments. Those that respect the project will get premission for their respective builds, but those that made "rouge" builds of mame in the first place don't particularly care and will continue to do whatever they want with the code.
And IMHO this is not what the new agreement is written for. It's for mame- related software and products, not the naming conventions of mame builds. That makes a whole lot of sense, someone abuses the mame source and we not only give them premission, but insisit that they don't give any mention of MAME in the builds name or docs.
Common sense alert.... people will use the mame source weather Mr. Belmont wants them to or not. Making them remove the "mame" name from the build (because they'll continue to make and distribute it, even if they are told not to) only makes it harder to track down, and possibly prosecute, potential "illegal" builds.
So in conclusion... unless those on the mame team's legal department really don't know what they are doing, mame builds themselves are safe, but software like mamewah and clrmamepro will need to get premission "officially."
Imho I've always found it quite tacky to name a fe after mame, especially considering there are hundreds of them and giving them all such similar names only confuses potental users. It's just like naming your cabinet: "XXX's MAME Cabinet" or "PAC MAME" ect..... It's not that hard to think up an original name that fits your project, unless you aren't creative, in which case what in the world are you doing in this hobby?
On the other hand, regulation on mame utilities seems a little silly, not to mention impractical and impossible. Programs like clrmamepro have mame in the title so you know what the heck they are for. Even my humble collection of software I've made has at least a half dozen active utilities with "mame" in the title. Why? Because they are named after what they do. If I didn't put mame in their names nobody would bother to see what they do and thus nobody would use them. We don't make utilites for them to be overlooked, we make them so mamers lives will be easier.
In all honesty I doubt I'll be asking permission for all my utilities. The truth is I've forgotten about more programs I've made then most people in this community will ever contribute. To find all of my various apps I've made over the years, see if the name "MAME" is prominently used, and wait to get permission to continue to use it would take forever.
So my stance on it is keep doing what you are doing and don't worry about it. If they have a problem with it then chances are they will contact you.