Atari and all those copyrights, where did they go

[Atari8bitCarts]

I found this interesting...

 

(I've attached the bankruptcy documents in 2013 of Atari Interactive, Inc.)

 

Where are the copyrights now?

 

On January 21, 2013, Atari Inc. and Atari Interactive Inc. (collectively, the "Companies") filed petitions for relief under chapter 11 of the United States Bankruptcy Code in the United States Bankruptcy Court for the Southern District of New York.^[12]All three Ataris emerged from bankruptcy one year later and the entering of the social casino gaming industry with Atari Casino.^[13] Frederic Chesnais, who now heads all three companies, stated their entire operations consist of a staff of 10 people

 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Atari_Interactive

ATARI_INC_sal.pdf

[Bryan]

It's like a soap opera. As the Fuji turns.

[AtariNerd]

All of those registered web domains. Wonder how many go to something interesting vs. are just parking spaces, forwarders, IP insurance. A few have pretty creative names, so wonder if any where claimed from previous registrars, for whatever reason.

[+mytek]

I think they should just hand over the rights to the Atari name and logos to Albert and be done with it. At least here on AA we can do something positive in the spirit of how it came about it, and was truly meant to be.

 

- Michael

[+FujiSkunk]

As long as there is some company called Atari, those copyrights are still alive and well. And even if the current Atari (or Ataris) ever do shrivel up and blow away, somebody will still own those copyrights. "Abandonware" is not and never was a legally recognized status.

 

Having said that, it is a good question where some of those copyrights are now. If I recall correctly, a lot of properties were sold off as part of the bankruptcy restructuring. Battlezone, among others, is now owned by some other company. Without bothering to do any actual reading, I speculate that Atari stipulated that they at least retain rights to the original games, so they can keep making money off of Flashback consoles and the like. But new games and use of the logo in a modern setting, etc., is now for some other company to pursue.

 

Okay, I did some Googling after all, and found myself right back on AtariAge:

 

https://www.engadget.com/2013/07/22/more-atari-ip-auction-winners-announced-stardock-plans-star-con/#continued

[Atari8bitCarts]

well. typically in a bankruptcy the assets wound be required to be sold off to pay back the debt to the creditors.

The creditors would have forced that issue considering the large disparity between what Atari was worth and what was outstanding.

So I would want to know what the ruling was...

Someone might have ended up with all those copyrights, etc.

[+FujiSkunk]

Several someones did, though like I said, I think Atari managed to hang on to a few rights regarding the original games everyone knows and loves. It's the rights to remakes, sequels, etc., that now sit with other companies, at least among those properties mentioned in the linked article.

[ijor]

Interesting, I wasn't aware about this bankruptcy.

 

I wonder how much the IP that matters to most of us is worth. I realize that some brands, like the Atari brand itself, and the rights for some classic games probably are worth a lot. Bus let's assume we want to reproduce the classic consoles and computers. Without games and without the Atari brand. Firmware, chipset, board schematics, some system software like DOS, may be some development tools. How much something like that would be worth? Again, no games at all, no brands.

 

I wonder if the Atari community couldn't have collected the money and put all that IP on the public domain. Or would have costed too much?