🚀 go-pugleaf

Atari had a "copyright bitmap" which was supposed to be embedded in every
cartridge (and possibly coin-op game).  It was simply "Copyright Atari" in
morse code.

I don't if bitmaps like these actually protect you; Atari's was never tried
in court.  Atari's legal staff was never terribly swift anyway.  One day my
manager told me that someone in Legal had called him -- they wanted to
copyright every eight-by-eight (by four-color) bitmap, and wondered if an
engineer could do a printout.  (Even in B&W, such a printout would probably
deforest the universe).


The following story is at least 60% true.  Perhaps someone at Atari Coin-op
can correct or fill-in details (or even call me a filthy liar).  [Hi, Mike!]

Atari's Tempest arcade game used vector graphics; the programmer made up the
character set himself, and for Tempest he arranged for the text "Copyright
1980 Atari" to also be executable 6502 opcodes.  If a pirate removed or
altered the copyright notice, the game would crash.

Just after the game was released for production and the engineering team had
gone on vacation, the legal department determined that the copyright notice
had to be changed to say "1980-1981" or somesuch.  Whoever did the change
probably did it with a PROM burner, and didn't know about the pirate trap.

Unfortunately the patched game didn't crash, exactly -- but if you managed to
stop a game with some magic last digits in the score, amusing things would
happen (such as getting 99 free lives...).


After a long project, there's nothing like kicking back and writing copy-
protection code.  It's a great outlet for all the twisted, perverted, sick,
"put the PC below the stack and wait for an interrupt" code you've pent-up
over the months.  Of course, the pirates crack it in half an hour or so...

-- 

-----------------------------------------  "Mmmph!  Urghurmph!  Grugmph!"
Landon Dyer, Apple Computer, Inc.          "What's he trying to say?"
Development Systems Group (MPW / DSG)      "I dunno -- someone shoved a
NOT THE VIEWS OF APPLE COMPUTER              lawyer in his mouth."