Amiga Documents

"I didn't stand up when I should have. I am standing up now." (Star Trek: Strange New Worlds, S2 E2, Ad Astra per Aspera)

Ben Hermans has lost his case against Ben Hermans BV and his former fellow shareholders at Hyperion Entertainment. He now has three months to file an appeal with the Court of Cassation. docs.google.com/file/d/17zWvza…

Oh no, it's six years later, and Hyperion Entertainment's "new" (old) management fired him again! "Steven Solie will no longer be part of the OS4 development team."

Did Hyperion just fire unpaid OS 4 development lead Steven Solie for talking to Cloanto? Beware that thou forget not: Hyperion's largest shareholder is lawyer Ben Hermans, who has also been providing legal services to Hyperion partner Individual Computers, all attacking Cloanto.

@RaLassen Nor is Hyperion. And Cloanto would not even want to be involved, they just want out (Hyperion wouldn't allow them). But the developers are free. Would they rather work on an official project, or be accused of "playing" with stolen source code (entrusted to Hyperion for OS4 only)?

@amigadocuments Hmm. Interesting. But they are developing os3.x so we still need them. Cloanto isn't doing shit in that regards.

Amiga/Cloanto Triumph in Ninth Circuit Appeal. In a unanimous decision, the Ninth Circuit Court ruled to separate the rights established under the 2009 Settlement Agreement from intellectual property rights. 1/3

Landmark victory in US federal appeal by @Cloanto and @AmigaCorp makes waves in the legal world

Under their "nothing to lose" mentality, Hyperion's new/old management flaunted their disregard for the law. Just this April they proudly declared in their mailing list, "We also received a cease & desist letter but we are getting used to that by now." It's time for consequences.

@RaLassen It's a wakeup call. I think it will lead Hyperion to finally settle. But since Hyperion was not a viable business to begin with (huge debt, implausible assets), they will probably head to bankruptcy. AmigaOS 3 and 4 will be fine. Nobody needed Hyperion.

@amigadocuments What does this mean for us ? Care to speculate?

These IP rights are stronger than those granted in the 2009 Settlement Agreement, as the Amiga/Cloanto parties are no longer bound by its non-aggression clauses or limited to jurisdiction in Washington, USA. docs.google.com/file/d/1_Ve5EF… 3/3

This significant legal win enables the new Amiga parties to pursue action against Hyperion and its co-conspirators for copyright and trademark infringement. Will it be enough to compel Hyperion Entertainment back to the negotiation table it chose to abandon? 2/3

Petrodollars and free lawyers aren't enough: the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit has denied Hyperion Entertainment's Motion for Reconsideration, filed earlier this week.

@NinjaCyborg Yes. Amiga/Cloanto parties won.

@amigadocuments Any news from this week's court activity?

A new anti-Amiga/Cloanto lawsuit funded by Robert Trevor Dickinson and by AmigaOS 3.2 developers "working for free"? Via its PR czar Benny Damsgaard, Hyperion announced today that it filed a new lawsuit against the parties who asked Hyperion to file its overdue accounts. 1/3

Hyperion are not and will never be "The creators of AmigaOS", as the email says in the signature. The lies and the lawsuits must stop. For added perspective, read more about weapons lobbyist Benny Damsgaard: google.com/search?q=benny… 3/3

Also blames Ben Hermans, knowing well that "new management" also was more than six months late in filing. We are looking forward to the analysis of the assets (between $0.5M and $1M, depending on the year and calculation) that Hyperion claims in order to avoid insolvency. 2/3

Almost missed this gem... Hyperion’s "old" ("new"?) management resurfaced as a candidate for Flemish nationalist, Eurosceptic and right-wing populist party Vlaams Belang. Because nothing says "protecting values" quite like dragging Amiga through endless court battles, right?

Then the Belgian company code changed, making the whole issue irrelevant. Declaring that someone else "lost" feels more like grasping at straws than stating a fact. But who knows, maybe 2025 will be the year accountability finally makes a comeback. 5/5

... which was disputed by a court-appointed curator in 2024 (the matter is still pending, should I publish that too?) The court ruled that Amiga and Cloanto had the required interest, and denied Hyperion's claim for costs. 4/5

Oh No He didn't. Longtime Hyperion director Timothy De Groote threatens to enforce "MNDA" against any developer or tester who talks to Amiga Documents. Guess what, I received that email three or four times... (Photo credit: © 2002 Kenneth & Gabrielle Adelman) 1/5