Slashdot Mirror
Licensing an Abandonware Game?
WolverineOfLove writes "I'm recreating a 1980s abandonware game with copyrights that have been seemingly unused for the past 18 years. The situation is detailed further in a Slashdot journal entry I just wrote, but in short: Is it worth dealing with all the copyrights and paying money if I want to recreate an abandonware title as an open source game? I know there are legal implications to certain decisions I might make, but there is a real possibility that this game's copyright holder will do nothing with the rights, and I'd much prefer preserving it for others than letting it fade away."
Contact the owners and ask them if they mind. You might be surprised.
"Freedom in the USA is not the ability to do what you want. It is the ability to stop others from doing what THEY want"
Make your new game. Don't use any exact names or words from the original. By all means select your names so that people know this is a successor to the original.
After all, open office exists along side microsoft office. Afterstep came after nextstep. You need a name like "afterstep" so that people know what you are on about.
http://michaelsmith.id.au
These guys have done exactly what you're aiming to do. You should probably get on their forums and talk to them for some insight. You should also check out their remake, it's a really good game! Warzone 2100
Duke Sue'em Forever
rewriting history since 2109
But nothing. You're asking a legal question, you need to go to a legal expert. Slashdotters are not legal experts, they just think they are, and their advice is worse than useless.
Goes to show what you know! We think we're experts at EVERYTHING, not just law. And we're pedantic and petty! We know it better than you do and your spelling sux and your mother ate worms! And we're abusive. I'll demonstrate: Get it right, loser!
(Anyone who mods this as anything other than humour is a complete moron).
These posts express my own personal views, not those of my employer
What would 3DRealms do if someone just went ahead and wrote / released an open source version of Duke Nukem Forever.
They would probably announce that they'll sue you soon if you don't stop this. However, the actual sue date would be shifted to the future indefinitely. :-)
The Tao of math: The numbers you can count are not the real numbers.