copyright?

[Bertoid]

Who owns the copyright to the original 1983 character design graphics?  Or are they public domain at this point?

[Sharper]

I thought there were still debates going on as to whether MULE is a EA copyright or copyright of the original programmer. As for the original sprites, for some reason I would suspect they'd be public domain. But I am not entirely certain.

[Robbie]

Years ago I read the rumour, the Game rights were sold to IBM.

[Melanie Bunten Stark]

Hi.  this is Melanie Bunten Stark, Dan's daughter, and my 2 brothers and i have a company that owns all of dad's intellectual property, copyrights, music, characters, etc.  You can visit Ozark Softscape.com for more info.

It is definately not public domain and all licenses and rights requests should be directed to melaniebuntenstark@yahoo.com 

Thanks for playing the game; I hope your enjoying it.

[Lighthope]

Hi.  this is Melanie Bunten Stark, Dan's daughter, and my 2 brothers and i have a company that owns all of dad's intellectual property, copyrights, music, characters, etc.  You can visit Ozark Softscape.com for more info.

It is definately not public domain and all licenses and rights requests should be directed to melaniebuntenstark@yahoo.com 

Thanks for playing the game; I hope your enjoying it.

Not to start a fire where no one wants one, but I think it important to note this:

I don't know exactly how MULE is arranged with the programmer(s); I haven't read/followed any of that.

Because you are the "owner" of the copyright...

my 2 brothers and i have a company that owns all of dad's intellectual property

and because you know (and especially are participating in) this fan remake, you have arguably ceded your copyright, at the very least to the Planet-Mule-Team.  A smart lawyer can argue that you have waived all copyright, though that is a tougher case to make.

I would strongly encourage you to require this (very wonderful) remake to include language on the title screen that it is made with your permission and that you retain copyright or that in the very least this version is a "licensed" version of your copyright.

Disclaimer: This is not legal advice.  Consult your attorney.  Blah blah blah

[data2008]

Hello Lighthope,

As you can read under "About", we do acknowledge the original copyright and even link to Ozark Softscape.
So while I understand your reasoning, let anyone be assured, that all copyright and IP issues are properly taken care of.