Commercial GiriGiri now Abandonware.

[racketboy]

Originally posted by Runik@Jul 7, 2004 @ 04:04 PM

How can a tech support from Sega talk about legal concerns ? In the original mail 'Sandi' recommands to contact the legal department, and it sounds like she doesn't speak on the behalf of the company, but on her own ...

Good point

 

[schi0249]

Just because a company abandons technology doesn't mean it is free for all. Nintendo had abandoned the NES until recently. Yet they still hunted after ROM sites and shut them down. I would believe something from SOA or SOJ legal teams. Having worked for multiple companies in tech/customer support. I know lots of what they say is BS. When people don't know the answer, they create one.

 

[ExCyber]

again, from this wording it sounds like the copyright expired:

And again, from the wording of the Berne Convention treaty, internationally-recognized copyrights do not expire for at least 50 years.

 

[gameboy900]

To add to what Ex-Cyber said the copyright date in anything states when those 50 or more years START and not when the copyright "expires". If it was when the copyright expires we would have a new version of everything possible (movies, books, games, software, etc) each year to update the copyright year.

As for abandonware. IT IS NOT LEGAL!!!! Once again abandonware is NOT legal. There is no such thing as legal abandonware...it's just a term invented by l33t pirates to make it seem ok to copy old games and software (kinda like that bullshit 24 hours thing ROM sites always use). Public domain is the only way that Giri Giri would become legal to distribute and mess with without Sega's (or who ever owns the copyright) permission. There is hardly any statement to suggest this has happened. And chances are that Sandi is getting a royal shitload from the Sega legal department right about now.

 

[Pearl Jammzz]

If Sandi is even real...prob. just madeup.

 

[racketboy]

how come the Underdogs hasn't been taken down?

 

[antime]

If you browse the site for a bit, you'll see games where instead of having a download link it states that the owner of the rights is an IDSA member. Some companies do care about their old games and do take action to protect them.

 

[ExCyber]

There is no such thing as legal abandonware...it's just a term invented by l33t pirates to make it seem ok to copy old games and software (kinda like that bullshit 24 hours thing ROM sites always use).

Any honest abandonware site/adherent will tell you that abandonware is a moral and/or pragmatic distinction, not a legal one. That's why people make a distinction between "abandonware" (which is no longer available for purchase from the publisher or a major distributor) and "oldwarez" (which is still available). The main point of abandonware is that legal methods of obtaining it hold no more benefit for the developer and publisher than illegal methods.

While commercial GiriGiri technically falls under this description, it has been "dead" for such a short time and under complicated enough circumstances (for those not paying attention: SEGA DID NOT ORIGINALLY WRITE GIRIGIRI, THE AUTHOR CODED IT INDEPENDENTLY AND PROBABLY STILL OWNS THE RIGHTS TO MOST OF THE CODE) that it's not particularly smart to assume that it's really been abandoned.

 

[RitualOfTheTrout]

All this legal stuff aside.. I really don't think that any newer hacked versions are going to ever get to be perfect anyhow unless the original author started working on it again.

Besides that its only a matter of time before Runik's Saturnin blows the old Giri Giri away!