is MULE still under copyright?

[ebenweb]

i ask because i'm wondering if it's worth attempting to produce a "commercial" version of the game--either a clone or using the original name--for the iPad.

i found a post from february last year from someone announcing "WUB" was doing exactly that and to expect it in 7 weeks.  obviously, it didn't come off.

can anyone advise on this?
i'm also interested in seeing what clones are alredy out there, regardless of the platform.  know of any?

apologies if this is posted in the wrong place.  had a hard time finding a category for it.

[Death_Mule17]

I have SUBTRADE on my Dos emulator, id say best clone ive ever played. And theres spacehorse but you can only play demo/6rounds...or pay $39.99. They've both been out for a long time but i have no humans to play with so I spend my free time playing planetmule. There are a few other clones, but there very glitchy and not worth mentioning. These clones still cant hold a candle to the OG C64 mule, which I still play at least once a month(with 3 ai- that are alot harder to beat than the planetmule ai if you play on expert). Hope this helps a bit.


Dm

[Chuckie Chuck]

and yet I still beat the C64 expert AI consistently, almost never loose a game, the only question is how big a win is it

As far as copyright, yes, as I understand it, the original version is still under copyright, the publisher, Electronic Arts, has listed it as "Abandonware" and I haven't seen any indication that they are terribly interested in collecting royalties from any one selling anything related to it.  The Bunten family sells official merchandise aimed at fans featuring original sprites, but they own the rights to Ozark Softscape.

As far as I know they endorse Planet M.U.L.E. as a free clone.  Since it doesn't actually have an original M.U.L.E. elements, I don't think it violates any copyrights, the grey area is the name, but since they endorsed it when Turborilla started work on it, that obviously isn't a problem, and Turborilla isn't making any money on it.

http://www.planetmule.com/forum?topic=230.0 (A post on Planet M.U.L.E. forum by Melanie Bunten)
http://www.ozarksoftscape.com/ozark%20softscape_001.htm
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ozark_Softscape
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/M.U.L.E.

[djdb]

Copyright is such a tricky thing, even most copyright attorneys would be hesitant to advise you on this.

The short story here is IF you created a successful port, EA would eventually notice & most likely step in, shut you down, & market their own update.  How that all exactly would go down would depend on a lot of variables; PROBABLY you'd get a cease & desist letter; probably your attorney would advise you to abide by it; probably anything you'd made up to that point would be free & clear, but you never know.

That's the whole trick with abandonware - it's only abandoned because it seems like the prudent business decision - the moment there's observable profit, the abandonment is OVER.

The big guaranteed out for you is to make something based on what you've learned from MULE, but so completely different that no one could reasonably make the argument that it's a valid copyright violation.  If you choose to go that route, that means different elements, a different playfield, etc., but effectively the same style of game.  Same way there umpteen million first person shooters based on WWII; you just keep the basics different enough that there's no question that it's your own take.

Also be aware that using trademarked characters or terms is a completely separate issue from copyright, & one that's much easier albeit more expensive to enforce.  So stay away from that altogether unless you can strike a deal on paper beforehand.