| Posted By
Csabo
on 2003-04-24
|  Viktor A Piktor
Very interesting turn of events!
I have tracked down the original author of Viktor A Piktor. Check out the game's details for some original Author's Notes on this game. What I have also learned from this nice fellow was that Novotrade did not buy the games it distributed!  All games remained the intellectual property of the authors, protected by the Hungarian copyright law. Novotrade only paid the authors royalty for each copy they sold (and for only the ones that they actually claimed). This is good news for us. It basically means that Appaloosa can't give us the distribution rights even if they wanted to.
If you haven't seen this game, check it out, you don't need to speak the language to play it. It's quality work.
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Posted By
JamesC
on 2003-04-24
| Csabo -->
It should be very simple if one has the original packaging: (C) Copyright by Author Q. Author, Distributed by Novotrade ..... or (C) Copyright Novotrade.
If there is no copyright on the packaging, and none easily seen on the game screen itself or in any loaders, then US copyright law (which is what you are concerned about) cannot be applied. Copyright law here is very clear on this point: a copyright notice has to be plainly stated.
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Posted By
Csabo
on 2003-04-25
| Re: Copyright
Thanks for pointing that out! If we look at it that way, then the majority of the Novotrade distributed titles are no problem - very few of them actually say "Copyright Novotrade" anywhere (but some of them DO say (C) Author). I'd still wait until we'll get the permission of the authors, just to cover our butts.
Funny that Viktor a Piktor actually says (C) Novotrade RT, when it isn't. I've talked to this feller, and he knows. It's his only piece of commercial work, and even remembers the street where they were located. It's pretty clear that the software is his. Well, anyway.
Still when I first heard this, I understood what the Appaloosa president meant. He never said: you cannot distribute these titles. What he said was: "It's not that simple, I'd have to consult laywers, etc. I can't say that I can give you the rights." That's why, it's not theirs.
It's crazy to have all the fuss about these games though. 1) No-one can make money out of these titles anymore (so why not give it away as a freebie?). 2) It's all in Hungarian. 3) They don't run on NTSC machines - very ironic. 4) None of the games have recognizable or trademarked characters. I mean if it was something like "Ecco The Dolphin's First Adventure" I'd understand...
Anyway, it's nice that we're slowly getting somewhere though. Now I just have to call "The Mad", and I think I found his phone number, there's someone living at the old address he put into his programs with the same last name
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