Jupiter Ace Project

ZX80 / ZX81 hardware and software offered for sale or swapping
RWAP
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Jupiter Ace Project

Post by RWAP »

Well if anyone has a little spare cash lying around - it looks as though the Jupiter Ace project is up for sale, including the brand - shame there are only 2 machines, one of which is not working:

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/The-entire-ic ... 4ad48dc15b
poglad
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Re: Jupiter Ace Project

Post by poglad »

It's great that the archive still exists, but £16,000 for what is, practically speaking, a pile of junk (gosh did I say that?) - you'd need to be the right kind of buyer. Assuming the tapes work and can be transferred online for posterity, all that really remains is ownership of the brand - the cassettes themselves don't have much appeal. This particular remark spoke volumes to me: "a Chess game that has the particularly interesting inclusion of its internal paper sleeve being made from a torn Jupiter Cantab Ltd compliments slip."

Still, as I say, for the right buyer... I can imagine being a lot more excited if it was a ZX80 or ZX81 cache!
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1024MAK
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Re: Jupiter Ace Project

Post by 1024MAK »

poglad wrote:a pile of junk (gosh did I say that?)
:shock: Off with his head :roll:
Fancy saying that about a cousin of a Zeddy :o

You are right that it would have to be the right kind of buyer. Maybe a collector that has plenty of money :)

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PokeMon
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Re: Jupiter Ace Project

Post by PokeMon »

Well - I saw this yesterday. It is by the way USD 16,000 startin bid which equates approx. GBP 10,000.
Problematic is the "brand" - whatever this should be.
As fas as I know there is never made a registered trademark to the Jupiter Ace nor to Jupiter Cantab.
Anyway if there had been a registered trademark this has to be renewed every 10 years AND the trademark has to be active used after a period of 5 years after registering or in the last 5 years, too (which didn't happen as far as I know).

So regardless of the tapes and papers you will get 2 computers for this price. That's more or less all. The rest is only "air" in my eyes.
I think the ressources here are quite more worthful than 30 years old, probable unreadable cassette tapes.
http://www.jupiter-ace.co.uk/index_prog ... tings.html

And the eBay money back guarantee as stated in this auction is not for these kind of sales:
The programme is designed to protect purchases that are usually sent by post – over 99% of listings on eBay are. It doesn’t include vehicles, real estate, businesses for sale, digitally-delivered goods or services.
So in my eyes - this is not the best deal you can get.
poglad
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Re: Jupiter Ace Project

Post by poglad »

1024MAK wrote:
poglad wrote:a pile of junk (gosh did I say that?)
:shock: Off with his head :roll:
Fancy saying that about a cousin of a Zeddy :o

You are right that it would have to be the right kind of buyer. Maybe a collector that has plenty of money :)

Mark
Haha... I don't mean that the Jupiter ACE is a pile of junk! Just that most of what you're spending a huge amount of money on here, most of it is dusty old boxes!
RWAP
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Re: Jupiter Ace Project

Post by RWAP »

True, there is no trademark as such in the name Jupiter Ace - however, that does not give anyone the rights to set up a company selling computers using the Jupiter Ace design and selling them as Jupiter Ace computers.

Although yes, correctly, the copyright for unregistered designs lasts 10 years (I can't find a means of searching for registered designs - only trademarks and patents), where, as in this instance, the company is still in existence, you are arguably in danger of passing yourself off as that company by selling products under their brand names!

A "Jupiter Ace" inspired kit is arguably ok, so long as it is clearly described as a clone (as with the ZX80Core and similar projects).

The advantage of purchasing the original "brand" is the fact that it would give the buyer the rights to sell items as official "Jupiter Ace" items, including the logo look etc, however you wanted to use it without fear of any court action.

As to how much that is worth? Well who knows - certainly I would not put the Jupiter Ace at such a high value, unless you were going to start manufacturing new ones and selling them on ebay without mentioning that these are not 20+ years old!!
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PokeMon
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Re: Jupiter Ace Project

Post by PokeMon »

RWAP wrote:True, there is no trademark as such in the name Jupiter Ace - however, that does not give anyone the rights to set up a company selling computers using the Jupiter Ace design and selling them as Jupiter Ace computers.
Well - if there is no registered trademark and similar rights for design and/or construction it is very difficult. The problem is that there are several different laws in any country which are mainly agree with international registry rules but there are many country-dependend laws and regulations for unprotected names, designs and brands depending on the prevalence in that country as well. This makes it hard to prosecute the possibly rights of the owner. And of course there could be made mistakes when transferring the brand from Jupiter Cantab to Boldfield Computing in 1984. So this would lower the price significantly and the same the unused name for more than 20 years.

I didn't heard form Jupiter Ace or Jupiter Cantab till last year. So what is the name worth in general if you don't want to sell products to a very small market of 50-60 year old 8-bit-computer enthusiasts ? ;)
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PokeMon
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Re: Jupiter Ace Project

Post by PokeMon »

So still no bid - auction ended. ;)
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blittled
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Re: Jupiter Ace Project

Post by blittled »

Up for sale again http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/The-entire-ic ... 4ad4fc4937. Anyone got some spare change? ;)
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PokeMon
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Re: Jupiter Ace Project

Post by PokeMon »

Does anybody know what happened to the ACE project ?
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