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Industry | Computer hardware |
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Founded | 1972 |
Defunct | 1983 |
Fate | Wound Up |
Headquarters | 13 Chong Yip Street, Kwun Tong, Hong Kong |
Key people | Eric Chung Kwan-yee |
Products | Video Genie, Genie I, II, III, Colour Genie |
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.
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]
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]