Asterock

Shoot Them Up Vector Themes/Outer Space 

Type of the game: [Coin-Op] Arcade Video Game
Asterock © 1979 Sidam.

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This game is an Italian bootleg of "Asteroids". For more information about the game itself, please see the original Atari Upright entry.

The official Italian distributor of Atari Arcades, f.lli Bertolino s.r.l., moved a legal attack against Sidam, and won. Many code fragments stored in ROM of Asterock, Missile Storm and other Sidam clones was identical to those contained in Atari originals' memory. Sidam changed the coin accept and sound routines, to get rid of copyrighted Atari POKEY chip. Sidam called this a 'coincidence'; moreover, the Italian legislation did not mention directly the computer programs as copyrighted materials like songs and books. However, the court sentenced about the 'intellectual property' of programs - this was an important sentence in Italian legal history - and Sidam was convicted of copyright violation.

Official products releases:
Asteroids [Upright model]
Asteroids [Cocktail model]
Asteroids [Cabaret model]

Licensed products:
Asteroids (Taito Corp.)
Asteroids (Sega)
Meteor [Upright model] (Hoei)
Meteor [Cocktail model] (Hoei)
Super Meteor [Upright model] (Hoei)
Super Meteor [Cocktail model] (Hoei)

Unofficial products:
Asterock (Sidam)
Asteroide (Maxenti)
Meteor (Omni)
Meteorites (VGG)
Planet (Alca)
Hyperspace (unknown)

Game's rom.
"Atari Inc. & Bertolino v. Sidam Srl: First Italian Decision on Video Games", European Intellectual Property Review , V, 12 (december 1983), pp.347-349.
F.A.Q. by Kevin Butler A.K.A. War Doc