Pretty stupid on Sterns part to do this IMO.

Even though ROHS was the "official" version for Europe at least, I would say at least part of it would have been at the instigation of the authorised distributors (particularly when our dollar began to surge).

There was a similar occurrence back in the '80s with the Williams Aus distro, when a container mix of brand new and used Williams pins arrived on a competitor's doorstep at the same time as the official container versions were still in transit to the authorised Williams distributor in Australia at the time.

It went all the way to the High Court on the basis of copyright infringement and enforcement of exclusivity of licence agreement from memory?

If I could find the damn case name I could provide some more details....

EDITED just in time:

Avel v Multicoin

http://www.austlii.edu.au/cgi-bin/sinodisp/au/cases/cth/HCA/1990/58.html?stem=0&synonyms=0&query=pinball