Who Owns Commodore? The Retro PC Brand Still Exists, but a Lot Has Changed

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Once a juggernaut of the location computer, Commodore is now a niche boutique brand, tally by a YouTuber. So really did we get from the immensely celebrated Commodore 64s done the 80s, a classical gaming acquisition pinch the Amiga, and now, a flip phone? Well, to opportunity it's elemental would beryllium lying.

Commodore was primitively founded successful 1976 by Jack Tramiel and Irving Gould. A twelvemonth later it launched the PET and followed it up pinch the VIC-20, which was 1 of the first to deed a cardinal units sold. In '82, it launched the Commodore 64, which became a powerhouse amongst location machine users. While the Commodore 64 was the United States' location machine of prime done parts of the 80s, the '85 jump successful tech pinch the Amiga 1000 gained immense fame passim Europe. By 1996, the Amiga was now a niche, arsenic the PC marketplace had wholly dominated the computing space, and location consoles were acold cheaper, and easier to operate.

With the institution bankrupt, this is wherever it originates to get a small complicated. Originally, a German institution called ESCOM, backed by companies based successful Asia, fundamentally acquired everything successful 1995. ESCOM was reportedly attempting to revive the Commodore Amiga, partnering pinch 1 of the Asian companies, Tianjin Family. In 1996, ESCOM itself went under, trading to the Dell-alternative Gateway. The cow-themed PC shaper sewage everything barroom the "C= Commodore" trademarks and name, which yet coiled up being owned by a Netherlands-based company, Tulip Computers.

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During this clip period, the Amiga operating strategy was still licensed retired to the institution Village Tronic Marketing GmbH. Gateway sued to guarantee that income stopped, but it was recovered that location was nary archiving supporting Gateway's argument. Eventually the institution was forced to extremity trading complete a costs dispute, alternatively than an elaborate tribunal case. Between 1997 and 2005, 3 different companies branded pinch Amiga popped up nether the Gateway watch.

South Dakota was Gateway's main Amiga branch, but was merged backmost into the company. It was intended to create the adjacent 2 versions of AmigaOS, 4 and 5, but ne'er released anything. Gateway closed it successful 1999, trading everything to Amiga Inc., based successful Washington. This was much of a licence holder than anything, and Delaware was a rebranded KMOS, Inc.. While brands and authorities changed, Gateway still held the patents. In 2007, erstwhile it sold to Acer, the Taiwanese institution took ownership. 

Prior to wherever we are now, the Commodore brand's main regular news was ineligible disputes complete the authorities of AmigaOS aliases resurrections. In 2001, a institution called Hyperion was contracted to create AmigaOS 4. In 2007, the institution was sued complete unpaid royalties by the Cloanto owned Amiga Corporation. Hyperion has only conscionable settled the various ineligible issues arsenic of writing, today, August 4, 2026. In 2010, Commodore USA was started, releasing hardware, for illustration the 64x. These were poorly reviewed and ne'er sold enough, ending its short tally successful 2013.

Prior to the latest iteration, Retro Games, produced the C64 Mini and C64 Maxi, arsenic good arsenic A500 and A1200 Mini, based connected Amiga systems. These were licensed retired by Amiga Corporation (Cloanto). Cloanto besides produces Amiga Forever and C64 Forever, emulation packages. There was besides AmigaOne, built connected newer PowerPC processors, designed to activity pinch Hyperion's AmigaOS 4.

As of today, Commodore is backmost erstwhile again. In 2025, a YouTuber called Christian Simpson started Commodore International. Bringing backmost individuals from the original institution and focusing connected bringing the marque backmost nether "two pillars," nostalgia and the future, has already gained momentum.

Its first product, the C64 Ultimate, uses an FPGA processor to (boiling it down for simplicity) emulate the original hardware, alternatively than utilizing software. This was good received, and the institution has already gotten up to velocity pinch ineligible litigation too, suing an Italian institution complete its name, which it claims was "improperly granted." It now plans to motorboat a phone, the Callback, which blocks societal media use. Reactions to it online person been divisive, and a value driblet was announced not agelong aft its first pricing.

Commodore and the consequent Amiga branding is simply a tangled web, and this hardly scratches immoderate of the weirdness successful the intervening years. If this were fiction, it'd beryllium lambasted for really confusing it is.