Main > Main Forum
sort of legal roms question
<< < (2/7) > >>
Stingray:

--- Quote from: GoPodular.com on October 17, 2006, 10:29:30 am ---I don't recall if Ultracade or Foley owned the TM on Mr. DO!

--- End quote ---

Foley claimed that he did, but we all know how trustworthy that source is.

-S
RayB:

--- Quote from: GoPodular.com on October 17, 2006, 10:29:30 am ---
--- Quote from: RayB on October 16, 2006, 05:12:09 pm ---A great example is the coin-op company "Universal" which disappeared in the early 80's. Well, many of their games are now owned by Ultracade.

--- End quote ---
Not anymore.  Which makes it an even better example.   ;)

Ultracade has changed hands/done the bankrupt thing a few times.  Now I think it is only a brand name.  IIRC under the buyout terms, Virtual Technologies Inc. (dba Global VR) took the IP they wanted and sold the rest off to repay creditors.  I don't recall if Ultracade or Foley owned the TM on Mr. DO!, but if you go to the USPTO.gov website, the Mr. DO! trademark stuff has recently changed hands.

So who owns the ROM?  Whoever owns the trademark for the title?  What about the copyright on the artwork?  What about the copyright for the game code?  Was that ever sold?  Did it die with Universal?  Who knows.  If there's enough money to be made, eventually someone will drag it to court.

IMHO, owning the trademark to use the name has zero to do with being able to sell the old ROM's.  If Sony let the trademark on "Playstation" lapse, could I re-file the trademark and start producing Playstation's for retail sales?  No.

--- End quote ---

Who said anything about trademarks? You're the one who looked up trademarks and are now making assumptions. Maybe you don't understand what "IP" is.  It stands for "intellectual property", and that includes (in the case of a game) all the programming, artwork, graphics, etc related to that game.

When companies croak, their assets get auctioned off, inlcuding IP. So of COURSE the copyrights and properties were transferred/sold. There doesn't have to be a public record for that to happen. That's all behind the scenes business transactions. Why would any company sell off a trademark and just abandon everything related to it?

You're making the point that maybe one company owns the trademark now, while the actual "rom" code went to someone else. Hey, that's possible, but it only underlines my point: All this old stuff is owned by SOMEONE, SOMEWHERE. Whether they choose to enforce their rights or not is entirely up to them. But "abandonware" is just a misnomer created by pirates trying to look legit.

shardian:
...So has anyone on here ever tried to track down th owners of some old games to try to buy the rights to them? It would be really neat if we could all band together to get some games and then turn them over to public domain.
RayB:
That's a good question Shar... I would imagine Dave Foley did hunt for rights holders, considering he wanted to put up "iroms", but then again, maybe he was going to pursue an alternate method (see below)...

I found this general information page (UK gov): http://www.intellectual-property.gov.uk/faq/copyright/find_owner.htm

It basically reinforces what I've already stated, but the last paragraph is really interesting. (But what if you are operating on a "free" basis? Any % of free is zero. Could mean trouble if someone sues).

It's worth looking into though... Setting up a website database and updating the rights status for each. A public database like that might provide an impetus for some rights holders to come forth, but then there'd be much red tape to verify if the claim is legit or not. Not to mention, rights holders would have to hear about the site in the first place and care enough to come forward. I bet many IP holders are not even aware they have certain IP rights (for example, if it was part of a larger transaction and they were interested more in X, they might not actively know they also own Y).

It's all alot of hassle to go through when there is no business model around the project.

RayB:
WOW, the copyright office is still operating in the dark ages! I just tried their copyright search system, and it uses pre-web technology. (Telnet!) It's like playing a text adventure!

As an example I looked for LADYBUG by Universal. I found it, but there's no mention of transfers or anything. I'm not even sure if a transfer of ownership would even appear in these records.

If anyone wants to hunt further, the registration # is PA-131-915
"Ladybug", registered by "Universal" in 1981.



Navigation
Message Index
Next page
Previous page

Go to full version