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Suppliers of Retro Computers Ltd are calling for the company to pay the royalties they claim it owes for bundling their games with its ZX Spectrum Vega console. Half a dozen rights-holders, from individuals to companies, have told The Register that RCL has failed to come up with royalties due on their games it has used. RCL's …

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          1. Anonymous Coward
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            Anonymous Coward

            Re: From the Facebook page...

            "Corporate law doesn't distinguish between one MD and the next. It's up to the company as an entity to sort it out."

            Hence why I made clear that "it would still be the company's ultimate responsibility either way" and- by implication- this wasn't the level on which I was disputing it.

            The problem with this case is that there *is* a dispute between the former and current management, which is as much the selling point of the story. And that if one wishes to assign blame- either explicitly or implicitly- at a personal level, there's not enough clear evidence to say for sure whose fault this particular issue is.

            At this stage, I still wouldn't touch anything by the company with a bargepole, though

            3 0 Reply
    2. Lotaresco
      Reply Icon

      Re: From the Facebook page...

      "on - page 53 of "Creating the Sinclair ZX Spectrum Vega" - Published by Andrews UK and Co-Authored by RCL's former MD, Paul Andrews states "I negotiated the necessary IP agreements with the various patent holders and licensors that would allow us to create and market the product" . "

      Hold on a freaking minute, RCL is claiming that the authoritative source for copyright agreements with the IPR holders is a one line throw away comment in a book written by a former MD? This gives the impression that RCL don't have any evidence to support their claim that they have agreements in place and that their "crack legal team" needs to s/ck/p/g

      1 0 Reply
  2. Wolfclaw
    Holmes

    Time for the Serious Fraud Office to start investigating, freeze all assets of the company and it's owners and immediately refund those who have not received the Vega, pay the due royalties and wind up the company and maybe a brief to the CPS !

    2 1 Reply
    1. Anonymous Coward
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      Anonymous Coward

      Where's my Ferrari, that's what I want to know...

      How much money does anyone think these royalties come to anyway? For a sub-£100 machine with 1000 games on it, exactly how much is anyone expecting? Is anyone really still holding out for that Ferrari they were promised?

      0 0 Reply
      1. Lee D Silver badge
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        Re: Where's my Ferrari, that's what I want to know...

        They come to whatever the authors demand.

        Even at a penny each, that's one pound per console and they haven't paid that.

        But if the authors still say it's 10p or a pound for their game, they either have to pay THAT or cannot distribute.

        Theft is not a case of value of the item.

        3 1 Reply
        1. Anonymous Coward
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          Anonymous Coward

          Re: Where's my Ferrari, that's what I want to know...

          'Theft' is not a case at all in civil contracts. And I know there's a new pound coin on the streets but I still don't think it's worth 1000 pennies as you seem to imply...

          If it is a penny per game, then it's one penny per console per game that any one person is owed, which comes to £100 off the sale of 10,000 units. As the post pointed out, that is not a lot, which is why most contributors are happy to see it go to charity. But until that revenue is realised from the distributor then it can't be paid, can it?

          2 1 Reply
  3. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    The Sky-Amstrad-Sinclair chain

    No-one is trying to claim that the Sky-Amstrad-Sinclair chain pertains to rights to all games; only the rights to the Sinclair branding, machine design, ROM, and games published by Sinclair itself. Third-party games are an entirely seperate matter. (Though Amstrad did try that with the eMailer and there wasn't this fuss back then).

    But let's also not forget that games authors who worked for companies that paid them at the time may not have ever been entitled to royalties, nor do they necessarily own any rights pertaining to those games if the companies they worked for have similarly been amalgamated into still existent companies.

    This article quotes Mark Cale of System 3 saying "there is no contract in place", so for a start, he can't be claiming royalties without a contract. That's an entirely different matter of permissions. It then goes on to list several System 3 games where someone else entirely is the current publisher, and who did give permission for their free use (so long as the charitable donations were made). So once again, the titular complaint, specifically of unpaid royalties, is undermined.

    0 5 Reply
    1. Lotaresco
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      Re: The Sky-Amstrad-Sinclair chain

      "So once again, the titular complaint, specifically of unpaid royalties, is undermined."

      Still has a strong whiff of an RCL shill about this post.

      0 0 Reply
  4. Anonymous C0ward

    It's probably got something to do with some of the directors leaving and deliberately trying to scupper what's left.

    1 1 Reply

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