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Franklin Computer Corporation is an American computer manufacturer based in Burlington, New Jersey, founded in 1981. Although it now manufactures handheld computers, it got its start as a manufacturer of clones of the Apple II computer series, which it first marketed in 1982.
The Franklin Ace 1000, released in March 1982, was a very close copy of the Apple II+ computer. The motherboard design is nearly identical and Franklin also copied Apple's ROMs. Two months later, Apple Computer sued Franklin for copyright violation. Franklin initially won.
Franklin followed with the Ace 1200, which included a Zilog Z80 processor for CP/M compatibility—a popular third-party option for the Apple II.
In August 1983, a court ruled against Franklin, who had argued that because computer code generally did not exist in printed form, it could not be copyrighted. Franklin freely admitted it had copied Apple's ROM and operating system code. However, Franklin was able to get an injunction that allowed it to continue marketing its computers. This case had lasting implications, setting precedent for copyright and reverse engineering. The case was still frequently cited more than 20 years after the August 1983 ruling.
Starting in October 1985, Franklin released a second-generation line of Apple II clones, compatible with the Apple IIe and IIc, including the Ace 2000 and Ace 500. Most added more memory and a numeric keypad in addition to undercutting Apple's price. Franklin's last Apple II clone, the Ace 2200, sported a detached keyboard and dual internal 5.25-inch floppy disk drives. It was released in the 1987-1988 time frame.
Although they are far less common today than the Apple computers they copied, the Franklin computers were highly regarded by their owners and received good reviews in the press.
Franklin also released a pair of IBM PC compatible computers, the Franklin PC6000 and PC8000, during the 1986-1988 time frame. Both were based on the Intel 8088 running at 4.77 MHz. The PC6000 had 512K of RAM and a single floppy drive, while the PC8000 had 640K and dual drives. These matched the most common configurations of the time.
Soon after the Ace 2200's release, Apple was able to force Franklin out of the desktop computer market entirely, including its IBM-compatible PCs. As a result, the only Apple-compatible computer that remained on the market was VTech's Laser 128.
With the loss of its desktop computer business, Franklin concentrated on its handheld line, which it had introduced in 1986. In the years since, Franklin has sold handheld computers that acted as personal organizers, word processors, dictionaries, and other reference books.
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