Date   : Tue, 31 Jan 1995 13:29:23 +0000 (GMT)
From   : Mark Cooke <ee2015@...>
Subject: Re: Roms and (C)

Hi all,

> Well, from having a preliminary chat with Developer Support, it would appear
> the BBC ROM code is covered by a licence agreement that they should not be
> used outside of the equipment in which they were provided (ie the BBC you
> bought). This obviously makes their use in emulators illegal.

Oh well.  Maybe we should all pack up and go home then.  After all, we
don't want our users to get locked up for infringment.  :-(  Seems a bit
tight of Acorn though.  Most of us have paid good money for a beeb back in
the old days...

Who wants to write an replacement OS?   :-)

> > > This is a personal view and I don't know the detailed ins and outs of 
> > > copyright, so I could well be wrong. However, it looks pretty sound to 
> > > me; BBC ROMs = (C) = no (C)ing.
> > Again yes, except people owning a beeb can use the roms.  Before I get
> Apparently not (see above)

Oh.  I'll have to check the archives for the last discussion, but i
thought we had confirmed that this was OK.  Maybe I'm misremembering the
discussion though.

> > I suppose, worst case, people could find someone who has a copy of !65Host
> > on their arc, and nick the roms from that.  I could probably write a
> 
> Harrrggmmm <clears throat>. 'nicking' the !65Host code is just as bad as
> pinching the BBC ROM code....(I think you'll find !65Host is covered by a
> similar licence-ie no use of any of it's constituent parts outside of
> the application).
 
'Twas a joke :-)  The !65Host roms are hacked about quite a lot anyway ;-)

> > On a more serious note :
> > William (the nice man from Acorn) suggested that we should elect a
> Flattery will get you nowhere :-). BTW I _did_ post to the emu list (at least,
> I think I did...)

You may well have done.  I didn't check the header for the message.  All
stuff sent to bbc-emu@... goes to everyone,
bbc-emu-request@... goes to me (as does stuff to ee2015@...)
The list is fairly dumb.  If you can, check replies go to bbc-emu@...
before you reply.  I send my mail to the list with the reply-to: field set
to bbc-emu@... so anybody who doesn't check the header still posts
to the group.  (Mind you, I forget fairly often - Chris L. gets quite a
few double posts!)

> > chairman for the group to put our case to the appropriate authority in
> > Acorn.  William is currently trying to locate that authority for us (as is
> > a friend who has a friend in customer services).
> Mark - Email me & tell me names....

Well, my friend's name is James, but I don't know the name of the contact
in customer services.  I'll ask Jim when I see him next.

> > I don't actually know what would be involved in Acorn releasing the images
> > as public domain, presumably they could just declare the images are free
> > for distribution, so long as they are kept in their original form.
> Without giving too much away (as I am going to continue trying to get to
> the bottom of this), there are more complex reasons why Acorn are reluctant
> to release the ROM code...

Well, if we had a better grasp of them (I had heard Acorn was writing
another bbc-b emulator for the risc pc) maybe Acorn's position would be a
little easier to understand. :-)  If Acorn don't want to release the roms
generally, how about a free license to bundle them with the emulator?

Please keep plugging away for us William

Mark

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