If someone does own that IP, then track them down and ask for permission!Īs for selling it and then forwarding on the money - if you break into Mc Donalds and start running their store for them, that doesn't really make up for breaking in.
If you're ok with taking that risk, and you're sure that no-one is protecting that IP any more, then go ahead and take that (small?) risk. But normally what would happen is they would threaten to sue you, and you would shit your pants and agree to their demands. You could technically get in to trouble for downloading some "abandonware" software, but in practice the risks are usually acceptable.Īs for it being illegal - the worst thing that can happen is the owner of the IP sues you for infringement (yeah, that's not good). Regarding Abandonware, distributing those games is still infringment in many cases - it's just that the owners of the IP aren't taking measures to protect their IP any more (often because they don't exist). Yeah in my non-legal opinion it still sounds like infringement, however, if the owner of the IP doesn't exist (and their assets weren't passed on to another party), then you're not really at risk of being shut down. I just would like to know what I'm getting into.
ARE ABANDONWARE GAMES COPYRIGHTED UPDATE
What if I created all new textures for Project: X, but kept the level design intact? Would that still be illegal? Maybe if I made the port available as donationware, and send all the funds to the current IP holders could they still abject? They could, though it would prove to be a silly move on their part in my opinion.Īgain I will state that my only interest in Project: X is to make the game playable again, also update the visuals, and keep the original story and game play exactly the same. If you had a fair amount of the resources to Project: X, would it be okay to create a PORT of the game in order to restore it into a playable state? Or would this still violate copyright laws since I don't own the IP? Wouldn't the game be classified as Abandonware at this point since their is no more money to be made on project: X by its original authors? I have no interest in selling Project: X for money, so honestly I think I'm safe to continue my work. Years later the company who programed and produced the game went out of business, as a result online play ceased never to be seen again.
Now let's say "Project: X" was a multiplayer only game that never made it out of the beta stage. I will refer to the game in question as "project X". I apologize if this sounds silly to ask, but would the IP laws still apply if you where merely trying to PORT a game? However I still have a few questions I'd like answered.
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