The Silver Lining Fan Made King's Quest Sequel Fighting Back Against Activision
The story involving the cease and desist order for a fan made King's Quest sequel by Activision has developed as the project entitled The Silver Lining is fighting back. This story is especially interesting because The Silver Lining had received a non commercial license from Vivendi Universal, whom was later acquired by Activision.
The Silver Lining is now fighting back the same way they were able to convince Vivendi to allow them a license, a petition. To rally supporters to their cause they have set up a Save The Silver Lining webpage. According to them, they have already rallied over 1,300 supporters to sign their petition. The question is though, will Activision care? What are your thoughts on the situation? Let us know!
Comments
3/7/2010 08:20:42 PM
#1
Posted by Finger
Activision won't care unless/until there's a big backlash, which the original story didn't cause.
I imagine that the Devs of The Silver Lining won't take Activision to court over this, but I wonder legally if Activision can just revoke the license or not. Wouldn't they still be bound to it? You can't just revoke a license on a whim, and would they legally be able to revoke the license just because the IP is under new management? Take care.
-calimer
-calimer
Well, since the guys were originally pretty much at the mercy of Vivendi, I imagine that the original contract had all kinds of "we can revoke all rights at the drop of a hat" clauses. And these guys likely agreed to them since they had no bargaining position to begin with.
At this point, they're obviously trying the "public outrage" route, but it seemed like no one was even remotely surprised or outraged at Activision.
At this point, they're obviously trying the "public outrage" route, but it seemed like no one was even remotely surprised or outraged at Activision.
Interesting point with the license, I wonder exactly what the terms were. Of course making a fan game of any existing IP I think in general is not recommended since after a lot of work you can be shut down and have no recourse. If you want to make a similar game perhaps it could be okay to write "Inspired by King's Quest" but have your own plot and characters and such, but also it would be obvious that it is similar to the game in terms of gameplay and feel, but using original content. I'm not really sure if legal that would work 100% since you are using the King's Quest name to help promote your work. Seems like a lot of legal mess, a lot easier just to come up with your own stuff and other games for small bits of inspiration, at least legally. Take care.
-mike
-mike
