Path: utzoo!utgpu!jarvis.csri.toronto.edu!mailrus!ames!lll-winken!uunet!brunix!cs132087
From: cs132087@brunix (Jeff Baum)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.mac
Subject: Re: Mac Plus ROM Upgrade -- Does it REALLY work?  (Long)
Message-ID: <5307@brunix.UUCP>
Date: 1 May 89 03:30:04 GMT
References: <940@tasis.utas.oz> <313@wcc.oz> <182@sibyl.eleceng.ua.OZ>
Sender: news@brunix.UUCP
Reply-To: cs132087@cslab5b.UUCP (Jeff Baum)
Organization: Brown University Department of Computer Science
Lines: 21

In article <182@sibyl.eleceng.ua.OZ> ian@sibyl.OZ (Ian Dall) writes:
>In article <313@wcc.oz> tom@wcc.oz (Tom Evans) writes:
>>Oh yes, Apple have good reasons to be paranoid about the ROMs - MacClone?
>
>Insisting that obsolete ROMS are returned gives Apple absolutely no
>protection. It is extremely simple to clone ROMs.


Yes, but it is also very illegal to clone ROMs.  Apple has patents on specific
code in their ROMs.  Therefore, anybody who copies their ROMs is infringing
on their patent.  If a clone maker wants to make a clone, they have to write
all of their own code to duplicate the Mac Toolbox (no easy task.)

However, if clone makers can get a hold of actual Apple ROMs, then there
is nothing that Apple can do to stop them from distributing the clones.
So, as Apple sees it, the fewer ROMs out there, the fewer the number of
clones that can be distributed legally.


Jeff Baum
cs132087@cs.brown.edu