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First, what's the legal status of this code? Second, should we do an immediate crowd funding campaign to purchase this, and make the contents available to ever

First, what's the legal status of this code? Second, should we do an immediate crowd funding campaign to purchase this, and make the contents available to everyone?

merlincorey 8y ago
> First, what's the legal status of this code? Apparently it is currently owned by a German entertainment company: "Realize that, while you’ll have my data as of the day of Larry 1’s creation, you will not own the intellectual property rights to the game, the code, the art, or anything else," Lowe says in the LSL1 listing. "Nor do I. The IP rights were sold over and over again, until they are now owned by a German game company."
- paxy 8y ago
  Correct me if I'm wrong but he can't legally sell these disks then right (at least before wiping them first)?
  - icebraining 8y ago
    He can, he just can't make copies of them. It's like selling an used book. In the US, it's called the First-sale doctrine: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/First-sale_doctrine https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/First-sale_doctrine
    - ChrisLomont 8y ago
      He may not have such rights. It’s unlikely he was legally allowed to have this copy of the code; he likely just kept the copy because he felt like it. If the copyright owner didn’t sell/transfer/contract this to him, he basically has a stolen copy. I do wish this copy is legally transferable; I suspect it is not.
      - djsumdog 8y ago
        Yea that's what I thought. This might have been made before modern NDAs and all the IP documents you handover when you join a tech shop today, or maybe Ken and Roberta W made some special deal with him since he was there really early on with the company? Even if that's not the case, there's a good chance all the original contracts were lost too. I mean, it really all depends on if Activision (or whoever currently owns the original LSL/Sierra IP) finds out and decides to come after him.
        xvilka 8y ago
        Vampires of corporate law will never miss this chance. Of course they will sue him to bankruptcy.

First, what's the legal status of this code? Second, should we do an immediate crowd funding campaign to purchase this, and make the contents available to everyone?

merlincorey 8y ago

> First, what's the legal status of this code? Apparently it is currently owned by a German entertainment company: "Realize that, while you’ll have my data as of the day of Larry 1’s creation, you will not own the intellectual property rights to the game, the code, the art, or anything else," Lowe says in the LSL1 listing. "Nor do I. The IP rights were sold over and over again, until they are now owned by a German game company."

paxy 8y ago
Correct me if I'm wrong but he can't legally sell these disks then right (at least before wiping them first)?
- icebraining 8y ago
  He can, he just can't make copies of them. It's like selling an used book. In the US, it's called the First-sale doctrine: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/First-sale_doctrine https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/First-sale_doctrine
  - ChrisLomont 8y ago
    He may not have such rights. It’s unlikely he was legally allowed to have this copy of the code; he likely just kept the copy because he felt like it. If the copyright owner didn’t sell/transfer/contract this to him, he basically has a stolen copy. I do wish this copy is legally transferable; I suspect it is not.
    - djsumdog 8y ago
      Yea that's what I thought. This might have been made before modern NDAs and all the IP documents you handover when you join a tech shop today, or maybe Ken and Roberta W made some special deal with him since he was there really early on with the company? Even if that's not the case, there's a good chance all the original contracts were lost too. I mean, it really all depends on if Activision (or whoever currently owns the original LSL/Sierra IP) finds out and decides to come after him.
      - xvilka 8y ago
        Vampires of corporate law will never miss this chance. Of course they will sue him to bankruptcy.