Forums - Ultima 8 Protection Status

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I was just looking at the FAQ of the site for Pentagram, a program much like Exult, only for Ultima 8. I was a bit concerned when I came across this -

"2.9. But isn't Ultima 8 abandonware? No, if an entity still exists to claim the rights over a piece of software (EA in the case of Ultima 8), and the company has not openly given away those rights to make the software free, then the software does not fall under the term abandonware or freeware.

Any copies of Ultima 8 you find on the Internet that claim to be abandoned or free are neither, and downloading them will be considered piracy."

I figured since they're big U8 fans, they're quite likely to know. Are they right?

We're not back again to the dispute about the legality (or lack of it) of Abandonware, are we?

The facts are:
1. The game is not sold.
2. The game is not supported.
3. The game was published by Origin, an ESA subsidiary company and therefore subject to a 10 year protection period - which has expired on January 1st, 2005.

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(chainsoar @ Jun 21 2007, 10:20 PM) [snapback]295641[/snapback]</div>

Quote:

Thank you for informing us about this. I will look into this and put a game on hold for downloading for the time being... better safe then sorry

No, fifth, I wasn't asking about the legality of Abandonware. It was the bit about EA holding the copyright for U8 that concerned me. Sorry if I was unclear.

The way I see the entire issue, Pentagram's FAQ expresses a belief there is no such thing as Abandonware in the first place. That, or that Abandonware is not a legal status (which it indeed isn't)

Quote:

if an entity still exists to claim the rights over a piece of software[/b]

I understand that to mean that "if there is an entity which still posesses the copyrights to given software" - ergo, the same as with any game whose publisher has been bought out by ESA, someone still has the title to the game's copyrights.

Quote:

and the company has not openly given away those rights to make the software free[/b]

This is just an overcomplicated way of saying "and the company has not released the game as freeware".

Quote:

Any copies of Ultima 8 you find on the Internet that claim to be abandoned or free are neither, and downloading them will be considered piracy.[/b]

Abandonware is a form of piracy.

I once again point to the fact that as a game published by an ESA subsidiary company, Ultima 8 is subject to a 10 year protection period which has long expired.

+++EDIT+++ I just came upon something very interesting:

Quote:

Originally posted by Wikipedia
The creator, Richard Garriott, no longer owns the rights to the game, nor participates in the development, however he still owns the rights to several of the characters from the game. Due to this, it is impossible for either Richard Garriott or EA to create a new Ultima game without first getting permission from the other, which is unlikely.

Thanks, fifth, for an informative and eloquent answer. I'm always happy to read your replies to questions like this. I just wanted to be sure AB weren't going to get in trouble again.