Quote:
Originally posted by The jaws of cerberus@Jan 12 2005, 08:22 PM
but how can a game is still being sold is the company that create the games doesnt exist no more?
|
Any product on a communications medium doesn't become "free to all" because the person who did it dies, or the company that initially owned it ceases to exist. Legally binding contracts determine ownership, and these rights are often transferred. That explains why JRR Tolkien's eldest son was able to successfully sue the hell out of Ace Books back in the 1960s when they put out a pirated edition of the Lord of the Rings in the US. The same thing happens with games many games when their developers and publishers vanish; it's just less obvious.
That's why, for example, Jim Gasperini could claim ownership of his 1980s title, Hidden Agenda, despite the fact that Springboard Software, the publisher, has been gone for nearly two decades. Gasperini wrote it, and he can claim the intellectual copyright. Fortunately, he's generous: he offers the game free on his website to anybody who will contribute to one of a group of charities that Gasperini supports. Other developers don't want their titles available currently, and keep a tight rein on them. It isn't worth the trouble arguing with them.
The best thing you can hope for is that the company or developer simply doesn't care any longer. That explains why EA, which owns everything Orogin Systems ever did, doesn't come after websites that give away the Ultima titles. EA realizes the huge interest in those games will simply drive the transaction underground if they attempt to sell them; though it wouldn't surprise me if someday, someone in their bookeepping department gets the bright idea to do just that, again. Then we could expect to receive dunning notices demanding that the Ultima games be removed from Abandonia.