MAME Licensee????????

[rugby1]

Check this ad on ebay out....  pay particular attention to the note

"NOTE: We are an official MAME(tm) Licensee that is approved to sell licensed game bundles with a special version of their software."

Mame doesn't own the games so how can they "license" them?  or is the seller just full of it?

Link

[Brax]

"Products or services that wish to use the name MAME or a derivative thereof must obtain explicit permission from the trademark owner (Nicola) to do so in all cases.

In most cases, if a product or service has a legitimate use, abides by the MAME license, and adheres to the spirit of MAME and the guidelines expressed in the About MAME section, obtaining permission should not be difficult. If you believe you have a legitimate need to use the MAME name, please contact the team using the contact form to request permission.

If you are interested in helping stamp out unauthorized use of the trademark, use the contact form to report abuses. "

MAME seems to offer a mechanism for this. One of the selections is: Request permission to include MAME with a product. That being said, they also offer a way of checking up on licensees through this same form...
http://mamedev.org/contact.html?tmabuse

The semantics are a little off but what they're saying is they're a licencee of MAME so they can supply the MAME software with the cabinet and by the sounds of it, include a full set of Star Roms.

EDIT: found them.
http://mamedev.org/licensees.html

[MYX]

Note that all the roms sold with the cab are sold on StarRoms. (Not trying to defend them or anything). This one may actually be legit.

[Santoro]

I am actually really glad to see that the Mamedevs have come up with a way for people who want to sell cabs with MAME to do so in a legit way.  I read the terms and they seem inherently fair, while at the same time protecting MAME from an RIAA-style attack.