Old games and copyrights


Tue, 21 Mar 1995 15:30:07 GMT

I have been spending several months reprogramming in Inform for PC
compatibles a 1981-vintage text adventure game, Empire of the Over-Mind.
Simultaneously, I've been communicating with the Monarch Avalon, the
current incarnation of Avalon Hill, who owns the copyright to obtain
permission. After repeated requests I finally have their answer. In
view of its tone and substance I thought I would share it.

First, here is an excerpt of my request:

------------------------------------------------
I am writing to request your permission to reprogram and release, for
noncommercial purposes only, a very early interactive fiction computer
game, Empire of the Over-Mind. . . .

Text-only interactive fiction games have generally lost their commercial
appeal, but there is a loosely-organized group (a collection of
individuals, actually, centered around two Usenet newsgroups
(rec.arts.int-fiction and rec.games.int-fiction) who play the old games
and program new ones. In addition, several university computers have
archives full of such old games--but Over-Mind is not among them.

empire of the Over-Mind was technically very primitive and the execution
sometimes crude (due not doubt to the memory constraints . . . ). But the
game has a certain imagination and archaic charm attractive to those of
us trying to keep text-based interactive fiction alive. . . .

As far a I can determine, the game was never released for IBM or
compatible microcomputers. . . .

Specifically, my request to you is as follows:

1. I would like your permission to reprogram and distribute Empire of
the Over-Mind without charge to the appropriate computer archives and
make their free availability known through the Usenet groups mentioned
above. I am willing to include with the distribution package any
restrictions you see fit on commercial use of the materials. However, I
would like to be able to permit others to make revisions to my program,
also non-commercially. . . .

I hope you can agree to make this game available again. I have been
racing to complete my project before my old Apple IIe gasps its last
gasp. It would be a tragedy if this truly imaginative creation were to
vanish utterly.

------------------------------------

And here, in toto, is the reply I received:

Dear Mr. Barnett:

I must inform you that it is not possible to grant your request to
reprogram, distribute or release a non-commercial version of EMPIRE OF
THE OVER-MIND.

Monarch Avalon, Inc. takes care to protect the names, appearances and
content of all their games under the Patent Trademark and Copyright lasws
of the United States. It is imperative that you respect our rights to
these intellectual property assets by refraining from appropriating them
in any way, shape of [sic] form.

Sincerely,
Lyndal Yeager
Corporate Communications

-----------------------------------------------