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Not sure if this goes into OT or here. Anyway, here goes:

Several years ago (mid-nineties) a company made a game that gained a number of hardcore fans that continue to play the game to this day. The company has since gone broke, but one of the last things they did was sending out a patch that 'unlocked' the demo and turned it into the full game (minus video sequences). To the best of my knowledge the company never issued a public statement on this, and we don't know whether the 'unlocking' was intentional or accidental.

Question: Is it illegal to distribute or download the patched game?

I'm fairly certain it'd be illegal to download the patched version, though i don't see why you couldn't simply download the demo and get the patch separately, if both are legal in and of themselves.

what game is this?

Alyrium Denryle wrote:what game is this?

It's called Hard[W]ar

Does the company still exist? If the software has been abandoned then you could probably do anything you want with it.

It all depends on who owns the software right now, its up to them to enforce their copyrights. If you have nothing else to go on, you'd have to check the EULA of the original software and that of the patch.

Some countries also have different laws. For example in Canada its not illegal to download music off the internet (not sure about software), and if the last court ruling I heard still holds, its also legal to have shared files.

Crazy Ivan wrote:Not sure if this goes into OT or here. Anyway, here goes:

Several years ago (mid-nineties) a company made a game that gained a number of hardcore fans that continue to play the game to this day. The company has since gone broke, but one of the last things they did was sending out a patch that 'unlocked' the demo and turned it into the full game (minus video sequences). To the best of my knowledge the company never issued a public statement on this, and we don't know whether the 'unlocking' was intentional or accidental.

Question: Is it illegal to distribute or download the patched game?

Since the company no longer exists, isn't there no copyright holder?

Grand Admiral Thrawn wrote:

Crazy Ivan wrote:Not sure if this goes into OT or here. Anyway, here goes:

Several years ago (mid-nineties) a company made a game that gained a number of hardcore fans that continue to play the game to this day. The company has since gone broke, but one of the last things they did was sending out a patch that 'unlocked' the demo and turned it into the full game (minus video sequences). To the best of my knowledge the company never issued a public statement on this, and we don't know whether the 'unlocking' was intentional or accidental.

Question: Is it illegal to distribute or download the patched game?

Since the company no longer exists, isn't there no copyright holder?

Depends on whether or not the company was bought out by another, larger corporation or simply fizzled.

The company released a patch that turned the demo into the full game. If it is legal to distribute the patch and it's legal to distribute the demo then it's perfectly legal to distribute both...

And, can no one see the gaming and computers forum?

Yeah this belongs in G&C, I'd think.

Keevan_Colton wrote:The company released a patch that turned the demo into the full game. If it is legal to distribute the patch and it's legal to distribute the demo then it's perfectly legal to distribute both...

maybe. . . .but i've read some legal documents on certain software and some companies are rather anal about distributing packets with both the game and the patch. It just depends on the legalese i guess.

Darth_Zod wrote:

Grand Admiral Thrawn wrote:

Crazy Ivan wrote:Not sure if this goes into OT or here. Anyway, here goes:

Several years ago (mid-nineties) a company made a game that gained a number of hardcore fans that continue to play the game to this day. The company has since gone broke, but one of the last things they did was sending out a patch that 'unlocked' the demo and turned it into the full game (minus video sequences). To the best of my knowledge the company never issued a public statement on this, and we don't know whether the 'unlocking' was intentional or accidental.

Question: Is it illegal to distribute or download the patched game?

Since the company no longer exists, isn't there no copyright holder?

Depends on whether or not the company was bought out by another, larger corporation or simply fizzled.

I heard the company (Software Refinery) went bankrupt.

Its assets were probably sold off then. Presumably that would mean the rights to the game as well.

It is not uncommon for someone to purchase intellectuall property from a dying company. If they were never public, then some copyrights might end up in the hand of the original financiers.


If a patch was released by the company that unlocked the game, then I tihnk it is legal.

Mighty good game too, I must say. Got lots of unofficial upgrades too.
I nearly finished it but lost my savegames.

If it's abandonware I'd say it's alright. If someone else owns the copyright, however, no go.

Zoink wrote:Does the company still exist? If the software has been abandoned then you could probably do anything you want with it.

It all depends on who owns the software right now, its up to them to enforce their copyrights. If you have nothing else to go on, you'd have to check the EULA of the original software and that of the patch.

Some countries also have different laws. For example in Canada its not illegal to download music off the internet (not sure about software), and if the last court ruling I heard still holds, its also legal to have shared files.

Be careful about Canadian law. The downloading rule applied to music - the Copyright Act had some unusual provisions. I doubt that this would apply to programs.

Still, at least the music industry can't do their trolling for victims up here the way they do it in the US.