Has The 7th Guest entered the public domain?

Question

I know that Trilobyte, the creators of The 7th Guest, went out of business some time ago. Has their work entered the public domain in some way? If not, who owns the copyright for their works?

Asked by Beska

Answer

Trilobyte has re-released the 7th guest for the Ipad and the Iphone at the end of 2010. The second in the series "11th hour" will be released "summer 2011".

In November 2010 Trilobyte was resurrected, so that means they still have the copyright for the games.

Answered by Rudi

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How to obtain legit Gold Box games?

Question

Are any of the original Gold Box engine based games (i.e. Pool of Radiance, Champions of Krynn, etc.) available via digital distribution?

GoodOldGames and Steam don't seem to have them in their catalogues.

Original boxes are pretty rare (especially for further installments of the series) and thus quite expensive. Sometimes they also come on 5.25" floppies, which are tough to use on any modern PC.

If they are not available via DD, are there any rumors or plans connected with their release?

Answer

SSI, if they even exist anymore, no longer has a D&D license. I haven't seen them available for any platform in about a decade.

However, it's not hopeless. Prior to the end of the last century, the Gold Box games (except Unlimited Adventures) were compiled on various CD-ROM collections, making them more accessible for a modern PC. (Though you may still need to use DOSBox to get them working, and they don't have print copies of the cool journals and such -- it's all PDF.) I myself have one of these collections. You might check eBay, though a quick check at this moment in time revealed only floppy-disk versions. Other auction sites, or second-hand software resellers may also have them available.

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Searching for a medieval town management game from the '90s

Question

I'm trying to find this abandonware game where you play some sort of a medieval townsman and you buy all sorts of buildings, run for offices and marry your kids to other noblemen. I'm pretty sure that the title has a year in it and that it's from the '90s. Does anyone know what game I'm talking about? I'm going crazy over here!

Answer

The game you're talking about is called Europa 1400: The Guild!

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searching for medievel town management game from the '90

Question

I'm trying to find this abandonware game where you play some sort of a medieval townsman and you buy all sorts of buildings, run for offices and marry you kids to other nobleman. I'm pretty sure that the title has a year in it and that it's from the '90. Anyone knows what game I'm talking about? I'm going crazy over here!

Answer

The game you're talking about is called Europa 1400: The Guild!

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Are the Strategic Simulation Inc. Advanced Dungeons and Dragons games now in the public domain?

Question

Does anyone know for certain whether or not the AD&D games produced by SSI in the '80s have been released to the public domain?

I have seen them offered for download at several abandonware sites, and was wondering whether or not they were legitimately available.

Answer

No, they are not.

Since 1976, copyrighting works created in the United States does not require registration, or, subsequently, renewal. This means that all works created since 1976 must be assumed to be copyrighted for the full term of 95 years, or until, at a minimum, the year 2071. Thanks to the Berne Convention, these copyright durations apply in all other signatory countries, which covers nearly the entire world. Notable exceptions include Taiwan, Iran, Afghanistan, Myanmar, Uganda, and Sierra Leone. Note that some of these non signatory countries may be party to other treaties or agreements, or may have other local laws in place which have similar effects.

The only way for software to enter the public domain is for it's author to explicitly renounce any claim of copyright and place it there.

Most 'abandonware' sites host what are commonly referred to as Orphan Works, i.e. works for which the copyright holder is unknown and/or unreachable. In most cases, these sites operate on the, (largely accurate) assumption that either the copyright owners do not care, or that the ownership of a work is sufficiently questionable or unknown that the threat of legal action for their infringement is slim to none.

What is legal is the circumvention of any sort of copy-protection or DRM mechanism that these games might have, for the purpose of archiving and preserving it, thanks to a 2006 DMCA exemption. This is a fairly narrowly defined right however.

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