In a bit of shock and angst I quickly wrote to Jens to offer my support. I also wanted to know if it was true.
He wrote me back quite quickly. I am publishing his comments here, as they seem to be the most concise and detailed.
Jens Schoenfeld:
I for one shall be boycotting Cloanto unless this is resolved in Jens' favor.the Amiga has been an expensive hobby for many years. I thought I do the
right thing by buying P96 and honoring the work of Abt&Kneer with a
high sum.
Now Cloanto comes along and claims to own "practically everything" for
an 18-year-ago payment of just over 1000,- EUR? See my addendum to the
december news about P96, published yesterday.
My inbox is currently exploding. The leaked eMail was not meant for the
public, but only for selected exhibitors of the Amiga34 show.
While I was happy to subsidize the Amiga business these past years with
money earned in the Telco sector, I am fed up with all the fighting.
Yes, the Amiga market has always been toxic, but there's a difference
between a few trolls behaving like idiots in forums and a company just
causing huge expenses for lawyers, just because they can. That's purely
destructive, and I don't want to be part of that.
To clarify my plan:
The leaked eMail is from mid-february. I will watch this until
mid-february 2020. If Cloanto has won any of the lawsuits that are
currently going on, there will be no more Amiga stuff from me. If the
lawsuits are still going on by then, there will be no more Amiga stuff
from me.
Till then, everything will continue as it did; I'll focus on finishing
started designs, such as Indivision AGA MK3 and ACA1240/1260.
ciao,
--
Jens Schönfeld
UPDATE:
I pretty much will be boycotting Cloanto and Hyperion just because I have no need for their products anymore. I don't want Jens to close his shop, but I also don't know if his legal woes are of his own creation (could be!). I'm done fretting over this.