EACA

Last updated
EACA Industries Ltd
Industry Computer hardware
Founded1972
Defunct1983
FateWound Up
Headquarters13 Chong Yip Street, Kwun Tong, Hong Kong
Key people
Eric Chung Kwan-yee
Products Video Genie, Genie I, II, III, Colour Genie
Video Genie (original version) Video Genie Artificially Colourised.jpg
Video Genie (original version)
Colour Genie system including peripherals (with non-contemporary monitor) C genie.jpg
Colour Genie system including peripherals (with non-contemporary monitor)

EACA International Ltd was a Hong Kong manufacturer active from 1975 to 1983, producing Pong-style television video games, and later producing thousands of personal computers.

Contents

Products

The company's products included the Video Genies I, II and III (which were Tandy TRS-80 Model I-compatible) and the Colour Genie. Along with Radio Shack clones, they also produced Apple II computer compatible machines. [1] In the United States, the clones were marketed under EACA's Personal Microcomputers Inc. (PMC) subsidiary as the PMC-80. Tandy Corporation sued PMC (and EACA by extension) in early 1981, citing patent and copyright infringement of the TRS-80's microcode and ROM code, as well as trademark infringement with the "-80" branding. [2] PMC maintained their innocence, charging that Tandy had not informed the company of copyright infringement before launching the suit and that Tandy was trying to eliminate competition. [3] The two companies supposedly settled out of court. [4]

History

The EACA group of companies was established in December 1972 by Eric Chung Kwan-yee (alias Chung Bun), a businessman of humble beginnings from mainland China who stole into the then British colony from Guangzhou as a young man. [5]

Just as distributors were promoting a new 16-bit machine in late 1983, the heavily indebted group went into liquidation at the hands of receivers.[ citation needed ]

References

  1. "Dick Smith's CAT". AppleLogic. Retrieved 3 November 2017.
  2. Latamore, Bert (May 1981). "Tandy Sues Personal Micro, Alleges Patent Infringement". 80 Microcomputing (17). 1001001, Inc.: 66 via the Internet Archive.
  3. Latamore, Bert (July 1981). "Personal Micro to Fight Shack Suit, PM Prexy Terms It Scare Tactic". 80 Microcomputing (19). 1001001, Inc.: 72–74 via the Internet Archive.
  4. Reed, Matthew (August 12, 2012). "Tandy Corp. v. Personal Micro Computers, Inc.". TRS-80.org. Archived from the original on August 12, 2012.
  5. "System 80 - EACA".