Abandonware holds no legal bearings. It's a word that was created to give the idea that the copyright holder(s) are no longer cracking down on illegal copying of their material. Downloading is still technically illegal even if the chance of getting caught is small.

Aren't Origin's games held by EA now (at least partially). I know that GOG staff have mentioned that SS2 is a jumbled copyright mess and getting everything cleared is what keeps them from releasing it here (or something to that extent).

I believe in the case of System Shock 1 (and 2), the correct legal term would be 'orphaned works' as there has been trouble in getting permission from the right holders.

Partially by EA, but I believe some of it is owned by 2K (because of BioShock), and some of it by some obscure company which has nothing at all to do with gaming. There was a really good article describing the situation, I'll try to dig up the link.

EDIT: Ah, this should be it.

I have noticed they are offering Crusader: No Regret and Crusader: No Remorse for free download and have not removed the download links for this. Maybe someone should inform them about this?

Good point. You could always send a letter to EA with the link. I'm sure they would get in contact with the website.

Thanks, interesting that an insurance company now holds some rights to the game.

Has anyone tried to actually contact this company for the rights to the game? It seems as if this business is the missing link, as EA likely seems willing to re-release the game for sale.

The article does mention that the company has been contacted, but it also mentions that the company doesn't really want to sell its part wholesale, they want an arrangement that allows them to essentially make royalties from additional sales even though they will do none of the work. And that's probably the reason for the stalemate... but that's a guess, too.

That insurance company seems to me to just be like the patent campers/sitters who buy up potentially profitable patents for stuff that either hasn't been invented yet or was invented but was never produced just so they can extort whoever decides to use those ideas down the line of cash.

Other than this I can see no reason why they don't just sell the rights they do own to the SS IP and be done with it....seeing as how they don't even produce games and all.

There should be a clause or addition to copyright law to prevent IP sitting like this. If an IP isn't used every so many years by ALL owners then it becomes public domain or put up for sale to the highest bidder.

It would be nice, but things are too complicated to do that. If I write a song that gets used in a movie and later in a game, why should I not get royalties for that while I live?

The real problem is that other forms of media (music, movies, books) tend to get re-released as technology upgrades. Software tends to get abandoned (hence the abandonware moniker) and the technology tends to upgrade quickly (how soon until 128-bit computers make 32-bit obsolete?).

Granted, I think that if all of the IP for a work is owned by a company/corporation (as opposed to individuals) they should get 10 years initially and are allowed 5 year extensions. When time runs out and hasn't been extended, the IP becomes public domain.

Something like that... software is just a different beast really... it needs different rules.

And I wholly agree about them just wanting to sit on the ownership until someone gives them a deal they want so they can just make money with no effort. Someone should buy it and make a crap, crap game with that company's name plastered all over it. :)

By IP holder laws to prevent IP sitting I meant mainly for corporations that own IP rights, not individual creators.......and it'd only kick in if they weren't selling the product anymore after x number of years or trying to make something new with the IP itself.

In your case a music writer would probably be selling his music constantly or making new music to sell, he wouldn't usually be hoarding it away and not selling it at all(i.e. sitting on his IP and the rights that come with it), but this insurance company is by not allowing SS to be sold or making new works in the same universe/with the same IP.

I think 10 years with 5 year extensions would be wonderful though, but maybe limit the number of extensions to perhaps 5 maximum......more or less depending on the type of media/IP, and other factors.