https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sega_v._Accolade
> As a result of the piracy and unlicensed development issues, Sega incorporated a technical protection mechanism into a new edition of the Genesis released in 1990, referred to as the Genesis III. This new variation of the Genesis included code known as the Trademark Security System (TMSS), which, when a game cartridge was inserted into the console, would check for the presence of the string "SEGA" at a particular point in the memory contained in the cartridge. If and only if the string was present, the console would run the game, and would briefly display the message: "PRODUCED BY OR UNDER LICENSE FROM SEGA ENTERPRISES LTD." This system had a twofold effect: it added extra protection against unlicensed developers and software piracy, and it forced the Sega trademark to display when the game was powered up, making a lawsuit for trademark infringement possible if unlicensed software were to be developed.
[...]
> The Ninth Circuit reversed the district court's order and ruled that Accolade's use of reverse engineering to publish Genesis titles was protected under fair use, and that its alleged violation of Sega trademarks was the fault of Sega. The case is frequently cited in matters involving reverse engineering and fair use under copyright law.
Maybe he mentioned that in his .plan file that you had to use finger to access.
Edit: Sort of correct. A bunch of details here: http://www.gamers.org/dEngine/license/quakeedit.html
In this case perhaps a gameboy cartridge could differentiate the sequence of reads for nintendo bitmap detection (which could be argued as API) and reads for the actual boot display and present different data... that's assuming they are separate reads, if the gameboy handles boot display all by itself and checks in the same step then i guess it's indefeatable.
https://dhole.github.io/post/gameboy_custom_logo/
Of course, you still have to include a copy of the Nintendo logo to get past the BIOS check, even if it's not displayed, which I think is supposed to be the trademark infringement.
> Of course, you still have to include a copy of the Nintendo logo to get past the BIOS check, even if it's not displayed, which I think is supposed to be the trademark infringement.
Yeah i think this is the bit that a brave publisher could have argued in court, I think for it to be a trademark violation it would have to be visible somewhere beyond the raw content of the ROM. That's why i'd argue it's essentially being used as an API token, and trademark definitely doesn't cover that.
Written by someone who worked on MSN Messenger. Talks about repeatedly reverse-engineering the AOL messenger protocol, and AOL's attempts to stop them.