Amiga, Inc.
| Company type | Private |
|---|---|
| Industry | Computer hardware and software |
| Predecessor | Amiga, Inc. (Gateway 2000 subsidiary) |
| Founded | December 31, 1999 |
| Founder | Bill McEwen |
| Defunct | February 1, 2019 |
| Fate | Intellectual property transferred to Amiga Corporation (C-A Acquisition Corp.) |
| Headquarters | Washington , United States |
Key people | Bill McEwen (Manager), Pentti Kouri (Chairman, deceased 2009) |
| Products | Amiga trademarks and intellectual property |
Amiga, Inc. was a privately held entity managed by Bill McEwen that owned trademarks and intellectual property linked to the Amiga personal computer. This company originated from Amiga, Inc., a Gateway 2000 subsidiary based in South Dakota where McEwen acted as marketing director. On December 31, 1999, the Amiga-related assets were sold to McEwen’s Amino Development, which later adopted the name Amiga, Inc. These assets were subsequently transferred to Mike Battilana under the Amiga Corporation banner on February 1, 2019.
Background
In the early 1980s, Jay Miner along with ex-Atari employees established Hi-Toro (which was renamed Amiga Corporation) in Santa Clara with the goal of creating a new chipset. Atari entered into an agreement with Amiga to license this technology for use in a gaming console and computer system, providing $500,000 in development funding. However, just two weeks before the June 1984 contract deadline, Amiga shifted negotiations towards Commodore International. This led to Atari Corporation filing a lawsuit against Amiga for breach of contract, which was privately resolved by 1987.
Following Commodore’s bankruptcy in 1994, its assets were purchased by German PC manufacturer Escom, which itself declared bankruptcy in 1996. Gateway 2000 then acquired the Commodore-Amiga assets and announced ambitious plans for revitalizing the brand. In 1999, Gateway sold these assets—excluding patents—to Amino Development for close to $5 million while retaining patent ownership. The last Commodore-Amiga patent expired on July 14, 2007.
Dispute and settlement with Hyperion
In 2007, Amiga, Inc. unveiled specifications for a new series of Amiga computers that included both entry-level and high-end models. At the same time, the company initiated legal action against Hyperion Entertainment—the developer behind AmigaOS 4 for AmigaOne hardware—in the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Washington. The lawsuit alleged trademark infringement and breach of contract concerning development and marketing activities related to AmigaOS 4.0.
That same year, Amiga, Inc. sought to acquire naming rights for a proposed ice hockey arena in Kent, Washington; however, failure to provide the necessary down payment resulted in losing this opportunity.
Pentti Kouri, who served as chairman and was a major investor in Amiga, Inc., died in 2009.
On September 20, 2009, Amiga Inc and Hyperion Entertainment reached a settlement agreement granting Hyperion an exclusive and perpetual worldwide license to AmigaOS 3.1. This license authorized Hyperion to develop, market, distribute, and commercialize AmigaOS 4.x as well as future iterations including AmigaOS 5.
A later legal conflict concerning Hyperion’s distribution of Workbench 3.1.4 was resolved on March 30, 2023.
Licensing rights
Amiga, Inc. granted hardware licensing rights for the AmigaOne brand to Eyetech Group based in the United Kingdom; however, Eyetech ceased operations due to unsatisfactory sales performance.
In 2010, Commodore USA—a Florida company without official authorization—claimed acquisition of the Amiga trademark and announced plans to relaunch desktops branded as Amiga running AROS and Linux. Hyperion Entertainment contested this claim based on their 2009 settlement with Amiga Inc. Following legal disputes, Commodore USA abandoned its AROS initiatives and pivoted toward developing a Linux-based operating system named AMIGA Workbench 5.0 (later Commodore OS) before shutting down in 2012.
In 2011, Amiga Inc. licensed its brand name to Hong Kong manufacturer IContain Systems, Ltd..
By 2012, copyrights predating 1993 were transferred by Amiga Inc. to Cloanto, thereby consolidating key intellectual property rights linked to the brand.
Recent developments
On February 1, 2019, Amiga Inc. conveyed all its intellectual property assets, encompassing trademarks and the remaining copyrights, to C-A Acquisition Corp., a company owned by Mike Battilana, who serves as director of Cloanto, the creator of the Amiga Forever emulation software. Subsequently, C-A Acquisition Corp. adopted the name Amiga Corporation.
See also
- Amiga, Inc. (South Dakota), predecessor entity
- Amiga Corporation (1982–84)
- Amiga computer, initial product line
- AmigaOne, contemporary hardware platform
- AmigaOS 4, current operating system
External links
- Amiga, Inc. Official Website (Archive.org snapshot from October 2017)
- Articles with short description
- 1999 establishments in Washington (state)
- 2019 disestablishments in Washington (state)
- American companies established in 1999
- American companies disestablished in 2019
- Amiga companies
- Computer companies established in 1999
- Computer companies disestablished in 2019
- Defunct computer companies of the United States
- Defunct computer hardware companies
- 5
- Companies of the United States by year of establishment