Exactly... MAMEDev should sue their asses... they are blatantly using ripped off MAME and FBA cores...
You missed Haze's (and ark-ader's) input early in thread #1.
Yeah, as I said before in terms of software they can use MAME 0.172 or newer, in that case they don't even have to ask permission to use the MAME software, 0.172 and above are GPL licensed (they do need to provide any source mods tho as per the GPL)
They can't use anything before that, nobody on the development team can give them permission for that even if they ask. the licensing doesn't permit it and can't be retroactively changed.
They can't use FBA or anything FBA derived, FBA has been non-commercial from day 1 (as FBA contains old MAME code + cores etc.)
If they want to use the MAME trademark to advertise their product as MAME / being powered by MAME then they need to ask and be granted permission (but again if they're using 0.172 and above, and have legally licensed ROMs then gaining permission is just a matter of formality to fulfil the legal obligation, it's highly unlikely anybody on the dev team would object) If they don't want to use the MAME trademark, or show MAME logos anywhere then, again, as long as they're using 0.172 or above it isn't a problem, they don't need to ask simply to use the software.
It was mentioned to me that these new machines might not be MAME at all tho, so I don't know if anybody has done a tear-down of one.
We have however made it as easy as possible, within our own power, to allow people to use MAME in a legal way for such cases, our power does not extend to being able to relicense versions prior to 0.172 however.
I'm wondering if maybe we should have called it MAME2 at that point, since some people do seem to be struggling to grasp that license changes can't be retroactive in such cases, but that's an aside.
Well we all know the amount of public outcry caused of using a well known emulator in a commercial product like Arcade 1UP. Nothing at all. Almost like a free ticket to ride. I think Arcade 1UP just gave the contract to a Chinese outfit and they returned a result, of the lowest common denominator for the bid. The artwork was really good, simplistic easy of construction, pretty cheap controls, and electronics that were sourced from existing components. Arcade 1Up had the licensing and the roms and they went with it.
Nobody challenged anything, and they sold a boat full at Christmas. Roll on 2019 and they have variations obviously copied from the hobbyist sites. Let's face it, they did a very good job too. So I think Haze might have put his foot into his mouth, when he said it was MAME driven, and spoke to any distributors. I think that was poor judgement on his part. It appears Arcade 1Up have their own emulator, but they could have just used an older version of MAME as it wasn't legally challenged when they <insert Chinese company here> made the x in 1 devices that was running an older variant of MAME in those Chinese boards all those many years ago.
It is not that MAME is inconsequential, there is no legal mandate here, no precedence. Just some hoo haw from a (ex) official developer of code that was MAME, which he can site pride of authorship, but so can thousands more who contributed at the time. Personally I would like to see Mamedev take anyone to court of license infringement, including the copyright logo and various MAME IP. It would bring legitimacy to the project, and serve a wake up call to the emulation community. It would take years, and it would allow companies like Nintendo, Sega, Taito, SNK, Tecmo, Atari, WIlliams, etc. to voice how MAME impacted their IP and past/future IP revenue. I remember how fast the Mamedevs moved when their copyright was being challenged by Mike Foley. MameDev moved pretty quickly eh? Made the press.
There was no internet sensation or viral videos of the emulation issue. It was and still is, one big Meh: "Wow. Really? Who cares. How much is those cabinets again? I want one." pretty much summed it up.
I myself want the that Asteroids Deluxe cab. It looks cute.
Think how Arcade 1Up is making a revival of our hobby and bringing thousands of young people in to enjoy arcade classics like we did back when it was tokens or quarters at the Pizza Hutt or the local arcade. That alone is worth the price of admission.
I like the idea that the 1Up Arcade cabinet of the games we play on is legit, as most of us are operating in the gray.
I have fifteen arcade mainboards, including a dead Stargate. So in theory I can sell my stargate with the dead mainboard and have a pi running Mame and the stargate roms that match the mainboard. That is what MAME was designed for. You just cannot sell the roms with the emulator. I think we can agree on that at least.
I was wondering... when did MAMEDEV start licensing MAME to companies? Some of these Arcade1Up machines are running MAME.139, MAME2003(.078) and Final Burn Alpha?!?
Hi FF can you (or anyone) show me an image that shows Arcade 1UP is using MAME or FBA, and not some GUI that looks like it? Need to literally say MAME anywhere. Thanks.