Marcin Paczynski told The Game Business he could “write a book”
Please do
He didn’t even know that he owned the rights because this was just a package with his inheritance … we have a lot of stories like that.
Wow, no wonder the dude wasn’t aware. “Oh, just a box with papers. Meh”
stories like developers whose physical documentation of IP ownership was torched in a fire
It’s always interesting to know which games’ rights might seem “completely lost”, just so we can 🏴☠️ in peace. Say, wasn’t this strategy something GOG did originally? Just sell and see if the current rights-holder shows up?
I don’t understand how these guys did not support Stop Killing Games. I seemed right up their alley and they didn’t say a word about it.
Not only that. They were actually working up to support it, together with their preservation program but then just dropped it for unknown reasons.
Is it possible they got an ultimatum by an important company they work with?
E.g. imagine the damage Bethesda could do to GOG by refusing to allow their games on GOG any more.
Bethesda
That’s Microsoft now. And they’ve never seemed gung ho about GOG (I can’t think of any MS game that GOG listed while MS had control over it). Considering their “Dreamlist” thing and the status of Freelancer on it, I’m sure GOG has been lobbying hard with Microsoft to work with them, though.
Oh shit it is, and is owned by a Microsoft subsidiary that owns all sorts of games on GOG. Elder scrolls, Fallout, Doom, Quake, Dishonored, and more. GOG would be screwed if they pissed them off enough to get all those series taken off!
GOG is doing god’s work.
I agree for the most part, now if they would only support linux natively…
Heroic Games Launcher FTW
Linux support trails, mac support is nonexistant.
If the boot sellers didn’t behave like utter pricks, one might nearly be inclined to feel sorry for them.
That reminds me of that old first person shooter, The Operative: No One Lives Forever.
This is a game that had a following and people have asked for a remaster or even just a GOG release.
The problem is, no one actually knows who owns it today. It’s a bit of a legal mess.
The upshot is that since nobody knows whether they own it or not there is nobody bothering to actively enforce copyright, so you can just download the games for free if you want on NOLFrevival.
Worst case scenario, we quickly find out who owns it when someone pops up trying to claim their money.
Such a fun game too.
There also was a free add-on/extension (something) called Jack that was a short game.
Both NOLF 1&2 and Contract JACK are available on the website above, patched and fixed to work on modern machines.
YMMV but when I tried NOLF 1 for the first time earlier this year I sadly found the gameplay so poorly aged I wasn’t having enough fun to make myself finish it - despite the setting, theme and writing being quite fun.
I might give it another shot at some point though, it was a critic’s darling back in the day and I’d like to be able to say I have played it.
Yea, the visuals and style of game play are great, but the mechanics are a little bland today.
But as I think about it, the mechanics were a bit bland at the time - my 8 year old niece loved it.
You look like you need a monkey!
I had no idea about this, thank you.
That’s a good question though. What happens if a right’s holder dies and doesn’t transfer the rights to others? Are the rights then public domain or what?
After a set period of time, they expire. Life +50 to Life +90 or so, depending on country.
unless you own mickey mouse, of course
In particular including the mouse. The reason why the age is so long is because Disney keeps lobbying to get it extended. It used to be a much shorter period of time.
I guess that depends on where you are in the world, but I’d imagine that the rights would be inherited by the closest family member? If not, it would probably go to the public domain.
It may depend on the country and state, but with a lack of heirs, it likely goes to the state like all other possessions. I’m no expert on this, though.
I’m against the concept of intellectual property. Information should belong to the entirety of humanity.
Just don’t bother asking someone who obviously doesn’t care anymore.
So you post a selfie on Lemmy and the next thing you know, you’re the key subject in a new Facebook ad?
I think we need some level of IP laws, but current copyright periods are way too long.
https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=1436186
Rufus Pollock’s math agrees. I am so bummed he recently took this down from his personal website where it had been available for 15 years
Now it just resolves as a 404 not found:
Ah that’s cool, 15 year copyright sounds good to me.
If you make a good effort to identify, locate, and contact copyright holders, but the path runs cold, can you disregard copyright? Maybe by claiming fair use or lack of traceable copyright?
Trademark requires active use. I don’t believe there’s such a thing for copyright. Are there limits other than regular fair use and documented year expiration?
No. You don’t get to just decide you have the right to use someone else’s work just because you coudn’t find them to ask, any more than you get to decide that you can use their car. Them not actively selling their works isn’t the equivalent of leaving the car derilict on public property.
It should be, and they should only get 14 years before it expires.
