On February 1, 2019, Amiga Corporation completed the purchase of the Amiga assets [277][292]. The company was originally incorporated as C-A Acquisition Corp., and its CEO is Mr. Mike Battilana, who also serves as CEO of Cloanto. The company further maintains a "dba" name registration for "Commodore-Amiga, Inc." [390], possibly to match the name that appears in historical copyright notices.
While stating [292] that the new Amiga entity would keep a "low profile" until the resolution of the outstanding legal case, Mr. Battilana also commented [293] about the different roles of Cloanto and Amiga: "After the demise of Commodore/Amiga, Cloanto still wanted to celebrate and support Amiga. This was done by the book, working with Amiga and not wanting to replace it. Amiga as a company would have a different role at that."
More details to be added as the situation evolves.
This section was originally expanded when it appeared that Cloanto would be the acquirer of the Amiga assets in 2019. Since then, it was made clear in public [293] and in personal email exchanges that all Amiga assets, including ones previously owned by Cloanto, would be assigned to the new Amiga Corporation once the legal cases were resolved. Given the "low profile" that Amiga has chosen to keep [292], and since the past activities and statements of both Cloanto and its CEO Mr. Mike Battilana (who then became CEO of Amiga) are a major source of information and hints about the potential future steps of Amiga, this part is nevertheless being retained for the time being.
Having its roots in Commodore 8-bit systems, Cloanto was one of the original software developers for the Classic Amiga platform, for which it had been creating productivity applications like Personal Paint and Personal Write "since the 1980s" (per web and social media pages).
Like other developers who owe their initial success to the Amiga, in the mid-1990s Cloanto diversified into software and services outside of the Amiga platform. As "kolla" wrote in a 2020 Amiga forum post [320], "Cloanto has a life and business outside of Amiga shenanigans, the Amiga activities are a side 'hobby project' of Mike. Unlike Hyperion, which only exists as a shell company for Amiga related activities." In the same discussion, "amigadave" added: "At least the owner of Cloanto knows how to write a bit of code. The only thing that the owner of Hyperion knows how to write is legal documents and how to screw people out of their money and time."
In 1997 Cloanto published, with the blessing of Gateway, the first version of Amiga Forever, a legal and official Amiga "preservation, emulation and support" suite. While releasing new versions of Amiga Forever, Cloanto also continued to work with both Amiga Washington [32] and Amiga Delaware [115].
The Amiga Forever documentation [245] states "The Amiga Forever package is published by Cloanto IT srl ('Cloanto IT'), including items under license from Cloanto Corporation and other licensors." Cloanto IT srl is an Italian corporation, which according to public records [246] was founded in 1987 and is owned 90% by Mr. Mike Battilana, who is also the CEO. Cloanto Corporation is a Nevada, USA, corporation. Ownership details of the latter do not appear to be public record.
In sharp contrast to the public battles between the Amiga companies and Hyperion Entertainment, it became known only in 2011 that behind the scenes Amiga Delaware and Cloanto had been engaged in negotiations over some trademark matters since 2007 [216][217]. According to documents published by the USPTO [218][219], Amiga Delaware and Cloanto reached an agreement in early 2011. Unlike the settlement agreement between the Amiga companies and Hyperion Entertainment, which was published by the court [138], the agreement between Amiga Delaware and Cloanto appears to have remained private. Possibly as part of this agreement, according to documents published by the US Copyright Office [220][225] Amiga Delaware assigned to Cloanto the Commodore-Amiga copyrights it had registered in its name (except for newer works such as AmigaDE and AmigaAnywhere). In agreement with Amiga, US trademarks like "Amiga Forever" and "Workbench" also became registered in Cloanto's name [7].
In 2012, while announcing a license that would allow Amiga to publish games for Research in Motion (Blackberry) devices, Cloanto CEO Mr. Mike Battilana appeared to take a rare public stance [312] against the actors that had supported the lawsuits against Amiga: "These have been challenging years for Amiga. While others were staging or funding attacks against Amiga, we are grateful for having been able to always work by the side of all Commodore/Amiga companies since the 1980s. We will continue to celebrate and support Amiga."
At the Saku 2014 event in Finland Mr. Mike Battilana described [229] how the 1997 agreements opened the door and "allowed to build on that license and later slowly acquire some things". When former Commodore and Amiga manager Mr. Petro Tyschtschenko asked what he thought about a Linux-like open source model for the Amiga OS, Mr. Mike Battilana cited the legal work that Cloanto had already been doing to make such an option possible, adding that more work needed to be done.
At the end of December 2015, Austrian self-proclaimed "hacktivist" Mr. Bernhard R. Fischer gave a speech titled "The Ultimate Amiga 500 Talk" [236] at the 32th Chaos Communication Congress in Hamburg, Germany. At about the same time as the speech, during which Mr. Bernhard R. Fischer cited his own past as a "cracker" and "spreader", the proprietary source code of Amiga OS 3.1 was leaked to that same event's file sharing network, and immediately became public [237]. Analysis of this leaked source code revealed how Cloanto had contributed to the Amiga operating system as far back as 1993 [230], leading to some speculation on whether it could use this status in relation to the complex legal proceedings between Hyperion Entertainment and the Amiga parties, and in the context of an open source scenario.
Between 2016 and 2017, Cloanto added some details about "possible futures involving open source, a nonprofit and/or foundation, and other long-term preservation scenarios" to its cloanto.org page [238]. In what seemed like a response to this, Hyperion Entertainment director Mr. Timothy De Groote stated that "We cannot legally support this. Once it is open source, this is an irreversible decision that is beyond the scope of our license under the Amiga Inc. Settlement Agreement." [240].
In 2024, unconfirmed but persistent rumors began pointing to the emergence of a strategic alliance code-named "Arcadia", aiming to consolidate the remaining intellectual property of Commodore and Amiga. The Arcadia initiative reportedly includes Amiga Corporation, Cloanto Corporation, and possibly other legacy stakeholders or rights holders. If confirmed, this marks the most significant IP realignment in the Commodore/Amiga ecosystem in over two decades.
It's important to distinguish between these different types of intellectual property (IP): trademarks, copyrights, patents and industrial designs. They are separate legal categories with different rules and durations:
Trademarks (e.g., names like "Amiga" or "Commodore") can be renewed indefinitely
Copyrights on "works for hire" (e.g., software developed by Commodore/Amiga employees) last 95 years from the date of publication, stretching well into the 2070s
Patents and industrial designs, by contrast, have fixed lifespans (generally 15–20 years) and are non-renewable
Internet domain names can be renewed indefinitely
Because not all details are resolved, it's useful to summarize the current state of the Commodore and Amiga IP, most of which originated from the 1994–1995 liquidation:
Amiga trademarks: Owned by Amiga Corporation
"C=" and "Commodore" trademarks: Some expired and/or re-registered by third parties; others owned by Commodore Corporation BV (formerly Polabe Holding NV, descendants of Tulip Computers BV)
Amiga and Commodore 8-bit copyrights: Held by Cloanto Corporation (pending transfer to Amiga Corporation on resolution of the legal case)
Patents: All have expired
Industrial designs: All have expired
Domain names: amiga.com (owned by Amiga Corporation), commodore.com (ownership unclear, rumored to be under control of an Arcadia-affiliated entity)
Following the demise of Commodore in 1994, the IP assets were acquired by ESCOM AG (Germany) in 1995, which soon sold the "Commodore" and "C=" trademarks (but not the patents, copyrights, domain names, or other trademarks) to Tulip Computers BV in the Netherlands (formerly known as Compudata). Tulip intended to use the "C= Commodore" brand for personal computers.
When ESCOM went bankrupt in 1996, the remaining Commodore/Amiga assets (excluding the trademarks already sold to Tulip) were acquired by Gateway 2000, Inc., later known as Gateway, Inc. At the time, the market was in the midst of the so-called "Patent Wars" (also chronicled in a book by Fred Warshofsky), and Gateway justified its estimated $13 million acquisition primarily on the value of the patents [15].
By 1999, having concluded that the IP was of little value beyond the now-expiring patents, Gateway sold the assets - excluding the patents, which it retained under license - for approximately $5 million to the newly formed Amiga, Inc., backed by Finnish investor Pentti Kouri.
Between 2011 and 2012, Amiga, Inc. assigned the Commodore-Amiga copyrights to Cloanto [220][225]. In agreement with Amiga, US trademarks like "Amiga Forever" and "Workbench" also became registered in Cloanto's name [7].
In 2019, Amiga Corporation completed the purchase of the remaining Amiga assets [277][292]. The situation in 2019-2020 seemed to suggest that the Commodore/Amiga copyrights owned by Cloanto would eventually be absorbed into Amiga Corporation - pending the outcome of ongoing litigation.
As of 2024-2025, the Arcadia hypothesis envisions the formation of a new, consolidated entity to manage the combined portfolio, together with other stakeholders.
How much might the assets be worth today?
At their peak, the Commodore/Amiga companies held several hundred trademark registrations. On last recount in early 2025, Amiga Corporation and the descendants of Tulip Computers BV held little more than 40 registrations each.
Adjusted for inflation, $5 million in 1999 is about $10 million in 2025. But there are no patents left (arguably, the most valuable asset, according to Gateway), and the trademark portfolio has been slashed by more than half.
The copyrights are still intact and enforceable until at least the 2070s, as confirmed in a recent US federal court ruling [389][394]. In a retro-tech resurgence context, with software like Amiga Forever and C64 Forever by Cloanto and hardware clones such as The C64 Mini and The A500 Mini by Retro Games Ltd. in cooperation with Cloanto and Amiga, copyrights arguably provide greater practical value than trademarks.
Domain names like amiga.com and commodore.com are highly recognizable, possibly worth $500,000-$3,000,000 each based on comparable domains.
All assets, with the exclusion of the former Tulip marks ("C=" and "Commodore"), appear to be in control of the rumored "Arcadia alliance".
Here's a rough valuation estimate, assuming Arcadia controls the non-Tulip trademarks, the main copyrights, and the relevant domains:
Arcadia Asset Estimated 2025 Value
Copyrights (Amiga + 8-bit Commodore assets) $7M–$10M (due to licensing, emulation, and retro gaming potential)
Trademarks (Amiga, etc.) $1M–$2M (limited but renewable)
Domain names (amiga.com, commodore.com) $1M–$6M combined
Goodwill / Brand recognition $1M+ (dependent on business strategy and community engagement)
Total Estimated Value ~$10M–$19M USD
Former Tulip Asset Estimated 2025 Value
Trademarks ("Commodore" and "C=") $1M–$2M (limited monetization potential without IP bundle; less if marks are not maintained or contested)
(April 2025 estimates via AI tools)
This puts the consolidated Arcadia IP portfolio close to or slightly above the original Gateway purchase value (adjusted for inflation), despite the loss of the patents - thanks largely to the long life and current monetization of the copyrights.
More details to be added as the situation evolves.
The above IP overview and valuation exercise gained renewed relevance following assertions [397] by YouTuber Mr. Christian "Perifractic" Simpson and former Commodore joint-MD Mr. David John Pleasance (who made repeat claims of having been "cheated out" of the auction won by ESCOM [395][396]). The duo announced their intention to acquire the remnants of the Tulip-held "C=" and "Commodore" trademarks, and were looking for investors.
Despite referring to their bid as an effort to acquire "the whole of Commodore" [397], their target does not appear to include any of the Amiga trademarks - such as the Amiga wordmark, the checkmark logo, or the Boing Ball design - nor would it encompass any (Amiga or non-Amiga) copyrights, patents or designs (all expired), or domain names.
Even narrower statements like "47 trademarks from 1982", made by Mr. Simpson, appear to be untrue, as the Tulip successors let most of the original "Commodore" trademark registrations from the 1980s lapse. The current "post-Tulip" trademark portfolio consists largely of trademarks registered by post-Commodore entities in later years (1990s and 2000s).
Comparisons that have been made between the limited trademark assets of the former Tulip and past transactions involving the entire ESCOM or Gateway IP portfolios are fundamentally misleading, as they ignore the absence of now-expired patents, and of critical copyrights and brands that form the core of the Commodore/Amiga retrocomputing ecosystem.
Such a narrative may serve marketing or crowdfunding aims, but does not reflect the full historical, legal or commercial reality of the Commodore and Amiga IP landscape. As such, it may be considered "market manipulation", which has the potential of being a financial crime in many jurisdictions.
More details to be added as the situation evolves.