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Z-100. Mr. Flanagin was aware that Zenith stopped production of
the Z-100.
During the years in issue, a generous estimate of the total
number of Z-100 users was a few thousand. Mr. Flanagin was aware
of the limited number of Z-100 users.
A. The Floppy Disk Driver
In the late 1980's, Mr. Flanagin developed a floppy disk
device driver (DiskPack) for the Z-100. He contacted Zenith to
inquire whether it was interested in this software. Zenith
informed Mr. Flanagin it was not interested in DiskPack.
Zenith referred Mr. Flanagin to Paul Herman (Mr. Herman) who
owned Paul Herman, Inc. (PHI). PHI was a one-man, mail-order
operation that distributed a newsletter (the Z-100 Lifeline) and
Z-100 parts, products, and software to Z-100 users.
In 1988 or 1989, Mr. Flanagin contacted Mr. Herman. After
some correspondence, Mr. Herman informed Mr. Flanagin that he
(Mr. Herman) wanted to distribute DiskPack. In May 1989, Mr.
Herman told Mr. Flanagin that he (Mr. Herman) had absolutely no
way of knowing what the sales of DiskPack might be. Mr. Herman
suggested a selling price of $39 with Mr. Flanagin receiving a
15-percent royalty on gross sales.
By August 1992, PHI had sold 250 units of the DiskPack
program. In the fall of 1992, PHI offered an updated version of
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