Play Meter

IEWS
JVW buys assets
of Mylstar
Roger N . Kee.see
Bally names
Keesee new CEO
Rog er N . Keesee , exec utive vice
pres id ent of Ball y Manufacturing
Corp . has added the addit ional title
of chief ope r ati ng officer, acco rding
to Robert E. Mullane, president and
c hairman of the board.
Keesee jo ined Bally in Septem-
ber, 1983, as executive vice presi-
dent after 23 yea rs with the General
El ectri c Company. Hi s responsibili-
ties at Ball y include overseeing all
manufacturing, product develop-
ment, and distribution .
" Roger's exce ll e n t technical
knowledge co m bi n ed with hi s
organizationa l abi li ty and le ade r-
ship m ade hi s promotion natural ,"
Mullane stated . " As Bail y's chi ef
operating officer, Roger wi ll assume
additional re sponsibilities ," he
added .
Keese~ was awarded an Electrical
Engineering degree from Virginia
Pol ytechnic In stitute and com pleted
hi s Masters wo rk in Electronics Engi-
neering from the Un iversity of
Virgi ni a.
Bruce Struckman , Bail y's con-
troller, ha s been promoted to vice
president co ntrolle r.
Struckman joined Ball y in June
1982.
•
PLAY METER. April 15. 1985
JVW Electronics, Inc. president
John C. von Lessen announced the
acquisition of exclusive worldwide
rights to certain Mylstar Electronics'
microprocessor-based graphics
technologies relating to the video
and high technology business.
Mylstar (formerly D . Gottlieb &
Co. before the name changed in mid
1983), a unit of Columbia Pictures
Industries, Inc. and The Coca- Cola
Company, was a major designer,
manufacturer, and marketer of
coin-operated electronic games
until it discontinued operations in
late 1984. Mylstar was the developer
of M .A.C.H. 3, a successful laser disc
game, and Q*bert, a coin-operated
video game and Number One on
Billboard's video chart for 33 con-
secutive weeks.
Gil Pollack, former Mylstar vice
president, purchased Mylstar assets
relating to pinball , and formed
Premie r Technology.
Founded by three former officers
of Mylstar Electronics, JVW's senior
management team consists of John
C. von Lessen, president; William
R. Jacobs, vice president, hard-
ware/ software design ; and Ronald
A. Waxman , vice president, systems
design .
According to Boyd W . Browne,
Mylstar president, the sale to JVW
includes Mylstar's new CD-ROM
player combining video and digital
sound ; Mylstar's proprietary inter-
active video graphics development
system; all M.A.C.H. 3 hardware,
software, trade name, and patents;
and the Mylstar Symbolic Debugging
(MSD) Program for IBM Personal
Computers.
Terms of the sale were not dis-
clo sed.
JVW Electronics is headquartered
in Chicago, Illinois.
•
FBI raid on copied games
The FBI , in an effort to thwart
copyright infringement on video
games, instigated a two month
investigation resulting in the arrest
of several coin operated amuse-
ment industry people.
On April 3, following the under-
cover operation , five people were
arrested and charged with violation
of federal copyright statutes. Those
arrested were Tim O ' Reilly of
Alban y, New York; James Yar-
borough , Y.C. Engineering of
Levergne, Tennessee ; Tom Goss of
Harlan, Kentuck y; Simon Ho of New
York City; and Jerry Carnes, Lanier
Space Center of Cumming, Georgia.
It was estimated that copied
games were costing legitimate com-
panies $400 million in sales and
revenue.
President Ronald Reagan recently
signed a bill increasing penalties for
copyright infringement to $250,000
and / or six months in jail.
Pla y Meter contacted John
Yarborough of Y.C. Engineering but
he would not comment on the
si tuation .
•
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