Has there been any talk between Atari/Plaion and Activision?

[shane857]

I think at the moment Microsoft are on a major clean up. 😂

[shane857]

18 hours ago, John Stamos Mullet said:

I agree with everything here except with the actual games quality. They were certainly playable. Decent to really good graphics, but man were they repetitive and boring. 
 

but yeah, they did look nice on the shelf.

Yes, I agree. great packaging. Some were hit and miss.

[+nurmix]

1 hour ago, Bill Loguidice said:

They do own many of the Imagic titles...

Ah.... well...  not according to everything I know personally about the situation.  Activision may have used them in the past, but that doesn't confirm ownership.  I'll just say there are a few reasons they got away with it, and leave it at that.
 

[+nurmix]

2 hours ago, OscarGungan said:

Very cool. Thank you for the breadcrumbs. Totally get the NDA thing. I’ve played with the idea of doing some kind of research project into Imagic. It looks like a challenge because there isn’t a ton of info without doing some deep dives. When I was a kid the Imagic titles got a lot of play and there was certainly a mystique to the art of the packaging and cartridges. Now, I’m geeking out about it. 
Thanks again. 

I think you'll find a lot of interesting information here.  The latter half of the video gets into this YouTuber's thoughts on what might have happened.
 

 

[Bill Loguidice]

1 minute ago, nurmix said:

Ah.... well...  not according to everything I know personally about the situation.  Activision may have used them in the past, but that doesn't confirm ownership.  I'll just say there are a few reasons they got away with it, and leave it at that.
 

Yeah, what I personally know is that they always included them in their asset portfolio when licensing their vintage games. Whether they or anyone else has legit ownership of anything is a different issue, but until proven otherwise I'll assume that they knew what they did or did not own and why.

[TheRingBearer]

I believe it was last year, maybe 2022, that AtGames licensed several Activision and Imagic games for their Legend game systems.

 

Activision HD Game Pack (atgames.us)

 

[+Mitch]

7 hours ago, nurmix said:

Ah.... well...  not according to everything I know personally about the situation.  Activision may have used them in the past, but that doesn't confirm ownership.  I'll just say there are a few reasons they got away with it, and leave it at that.
 

Here a link to an old forum thread with some interesting information. https://forums.atariage.com/topic/203928-who-owns-the-imagic-brand-these-days/ There's a link in that thread to an even older thread with some more information.

 

Mitch

[Sean_1970]

4 hours ago, Mitch said:

Here a link to an old forum thread with some interesting information. https://forums.atariage.com/topic/203928-who-owns-the-imagic-brand-these-days/ There's a link in that thread to an even older thread with some more information.

 

Mitch

What an interesting rabbit hole. If Disney hadn’t gotten copyright law extended over and over again this wouldn’t be an issue in ten years. It might not be an issue in most of the world - anyone know if UK copyright applies to software code or just books and song lyrics?

[Glorkbot]

If the trademarks haven’t been renewed they would’ve expired by now. And they have! A search on the US governments website shows the “Imagic” trademark for video games  as “dead”. There is however a company that holds a “live” trademark for “Imagic” in the category of “bacon bits” lol.

 

The video game category trademark for the name Demon Attack is also listed as “dead”.  I haven’t looked further than that, but if the Imagic trademark is dead and the Demon Attack trademark is dead then I assume ALL their trademarks are probably dead. (Edit: I see another poster looked up the trademarks as well.)

 

Too bad copyright doesn’t expire when abandoned like trademark does.

Edited February 7 by Glorkbot

[jhd]

20 hours ago, nurmix said:

Ah.... well...  not according to everything I know personally about the situation.  Activision may have used them in the past, but that doesn't confirm ownership.  I'll just say there are a few reasons they got away with it, and leave it at that.

 

If the entity that owns the copyright cannot prove its ownership and/or it does not have the resources (or desire) to pursue a civil action, then there is nothing stopping someone else from using the material. It is all a question of the level of risk tolerance that a company is willing to embrace. If memory serves, Imagic is in legal limbo due to unpaid fees and taxes, and so it has no legal standing to bring a lawsuit. It may still own the copyright, but it is in no position to do anything to enforce those rights. 

 

Think of it like a person who is in jail and someone decides to loot their house while they are incarcerated. The homeowner may not be aware that this is occuring, and even if they were, they would have no ability to stop the activity. Yes, the actions are technically illegal, but there is no realistic chance of consequences, so have at it. 

 

In addition, lawsuits are expensive, and even having a good cause of action does not mean that someone will be successful. A defunct company will not (by definition) have any assets, and finding third-party funding for a copyright lawsuit with a limited chance of success is going to be a significant challenge. 

 

Someone could, for example, release a modern compilation of Mythicon games. These titles are still, technically, protected by copyright and doing so doing so would potentially expose the publisher to an action for breach of copyright. In actual practice, the chances of this happening are extremely small. 

[Sean_1970]

15 hours ago, jhd said:

 

If the entity that owns the copyright cannot prove its ownership and/or it does not have the resources (or desire) to pursue a civil action, then there is nothing stopping someone else from using the material. It is all a question of the level of risk tolerance that a company is willing to embrace. If memory serves, Imagic is in legal limbo due to unpaid fees and taxes, and so it has no legal standing to bring a lawsuit. It may still own the copyright, but it is in no position to do anything to enforce those rights. 

 

Think of it like a person who is in jail and someone decides to loot their house while they are incarcerated. The homeowner may not be aware that this is occuring, and even if they were, they would have no ability to stop the activity. Yes, the actions are technically illegal, but there is no realistic chance of consequences, so have at it. 

 

In addition, lawsuits are expensive, and even having a good cause of action does not mean that someone will be successful. A defunct company will not (by definition) have any assets, and finding third-party funding for a copyright lawsuit with a limited chance of success is going to be a significant challenge. 

 

Someone could, for example, release a modern compilation of Mythicon games. These titles are still, technically, protected by copyright and doing so doing so would potentially expose the publisher to an action for breach of copyright. In actual practice, the chances of this happening are extremely small. 

So when are we getting that 10-in-1 Imagic cart with Subterranea, Ben? 😉