The Operative: No One Owns Forever

There's no videogames in the public domain. All of them are copyrighted, as soon as they exist, and for never less then 95 years. Don't look for them. From the oldest pong clone to the  newest Halo. They aren't public domain and won't be until after you have died. Companies don't have, in 95 years, to prove they are interested in their work remaining under copyright.


So don't be surprised when cases like this happen: Nobody knows who owns The Operative: No One Lives Forever and The Operative 2: Agent in H.A.R.M.S Way.

Both games where first person shooters for PC in 2000, the games where set in a kitchy campy 60's espionage universe, where the player was thrust into the platform boots of Cate Archer. I've never played them, but I've also never read about them sucking or anything.

 There have been mergers, buyings, and at least Activision is pretty sure it doesn't own it. And so, since nobody knows who owns it, a company that releases old PC games is taking the legal risk of trademarking these game's titles, maybe hoping  to rerelease them.

It's a risky venture. While the trademark(identifying name of a product or service) can be challenged for lack of use and gained, copyright(right to duplicate, and make derivative works) would remain. Should these well meaning re-releasers infringe on the copyright of these games, and the actual owner re-emerge, they are opening themselves up to a liability of thousands of dollars worth of lawsuit.

In the past, copyright had a "midway point" on which a small fee extended said copyright. These prevented situations like these, where the copyright owner is nowhere to be found(known as 'Orphan Works'), from lasting over 70 years, after which the work could no longer exist. If everyone worked within our current copyright system, These games, and many more, would simply be lost forever waiting for owners that don't know or care that they own a piece of gaming history if not for pirates and hobbyists.

One day it'll be 95 years since  2000. By then it'll be too late to go looking for copies of videogames to preserve them and remake them. How old will YOU be in that day? Will you be alive?