Uh, hello everyone, I hope this is the right board... I was wondering how I would determine who owns the trademark or copyright to a little N64 game called Aerogauge. It was developed by Locomotive games and Published by ASCII entertainment. Locomotive games was sold to THQ, but THQ went out of business.
Who owns it now? How would I find out who owns it?
Other urls found in this thread:
en.wikipedia.org
metagamemedia.com
linkedin.com
traegertours.com
twitter.com
Sorry if this is the wrong board, I thought this is business territory...
bump for interesting question. I know these guys own a lot of the old IP: en.wikipedia.org
Hmm, I guess I could contact them
This is the right board, but good luck getting an answer for anything that isn't crypto related right now. You could try doing a US trademark or copyright search.
Sorry I can't help more. I tried doing a little trademark search but I don't really know what I'm doing. I've actually emailed the CEO of Nordic games before and he answered in like 24 hours so you could try that.
Pardon, but who would I send an email to? I'm guessing admin, but I do not know for sure.
I got ahold of him at lawi et gameoutlet.se
That's his email? Alright, seems weird emailing a CEO of a company
Another bump I guess. More information couldn't hurt.
Anybody at all? Oh well, i'll wait for a response from THQnordic
it doesn't seem like thq nordic acquired the aeroguage ip, what are you planning on making?
I want to make a sequel to it, or something. No real plans, but even though it's objectively mediocre, it holds a place in my heart, and I want to make something better than the original.
damn if youre this far looking for them then it might be the thing for ya
What do you mean?
as far as i can tell, THQ filed for bankruptcy and auctioned off a lot of their properties, but it doesn't seem anyone bought Locomotive Games IPs. I'd say go for it, there appears to be no one with legal right to stop you
Alright, I just want to be sure before I do so, but this mean I could name it Aerogauge 2 if I wanted? A direct sequel? Not that I'd name it that, it sounds dumb.
I emailed the company that Don Traeger, the
former owner of Locomotive Games works at. Hopefully he responds.
Nice work OP. Make your dreams come true. Now if someone could make a modern Extreme G...
I'm not too sure I'm going to get a response, though. This website is super weird, what does it do? What is his company for?
It looks like he hasn't revealed this company to the public yet lol. hence "stealth mode"
from what little research i've done, i can't see a reason why you wouldn't be able to. the company dissolved so i don't think anyone has a right to the IP. although, that might mean you're not allowed to have it either. either way go for it, worst case scenario you get hit with a cease and desist
For 6 years?
if i were you i'd go to Veeky Forums, find /agdg/, and ask them about it, they'd know more about your specific question than anyone here i'd imagine
Alright, thank you very much for your help.
I thought I was the only 1 that played this game.
I did too, I am making threads on /v/ about it and people say they've played it and liked it. But, that's for /v/, not Veeky Forums
YES DUDE. Ive been saying this forever
Doesn't really work like that. You'll need to purchase the rights to it from the former rights holder. Companies usually have securities firms handle this sort of thing I believe. Don't expect it to be that cheap, OP.
How expensive? Are we talking 6 figures here?
That game is sick.
Buy ARK, faggot.
What's ARK?
Hello, worked for a games company that folded and I own my own IP and trademarks.
So when the company went under even if the rights weren't sold they would be held by whatever company managed the assets through liquidation. Your best bet would be to contact people who worked high up at the original publisher. You can find people with some googling, try get the credits off mobygames and find them on LinkedIn. Ask if they remember what company handled the liquidation then contact them. You might even be able to just google the information from local news when the development studio closed as it's sometimes made public when other ip sales were made.
Honestly you sound like you don't really know what you're doing if you think it's odd to contact a CEO over something like IP. If I was you I'd make a spiritual successor, a homage and purchase the trademark in areas where it's obtainable ( I checked the UK and nobody owns the trademark). Just make sure the game is all your own code and art assets and you'll be fine as far as copyright goes. You could call it aeroguage, not even aeroguage 2.
AEROGAY
Thank you, but ASCII is a Japanese company. I don't know Japanese.
I liked that game, good luck bro, here's a bamp
>metagamemedia.com
what the fuck is this
IP lawfag here.
Trademarks expire when no longer used in commerce.
Federal registration in the US gets you 10 years even if not in use, but you must renew your registration or the trademark will be released for use again.
I checked the TESS database for you, Ascii / Locomotive don't appear to even have ever filed for a trademark in the US.
...
You beautiful bastard. Thank you so much.
I have no fucking clue and it's creeping me out
Memorable thread.
Someone should screen cap it
Precisely.
Today Veeky Forums was used for something business related
I still wanna know what this is though...
Searching the USPTO comes up with no results for "aerogauge" or "aero gauge", so that means this name was never trademarked. Obviously the game's content is still copyrighted, but actual game mechanics aren't patentable, so you can legally make a clone of this game and sell it, possibly even under the same name. If you want to be completely safe though, just name it something else and change the graphics and music just enough to be considered original works, and you'll be in the clear.
I see. I was kinda hoping to be able to use vehicles, or at least remake them.
I just looked up a video of it and the game's art looks like a ripoff of f-zero, so I'm sure you remaking their vehicles wouldn't be any less original than them "remaking" f-zero's vehicles.
Don't talk badly about it ;-;
they have backstories you know...
Wow this is honestly going great! Thank you all!
WOW THIS IS HONESTLY NOT GOING GREAT.
Where do I go from now? There is even less information on Locomotive Co Ltd than Locomotive Games.
Find some names and start sending emails. Talk to anyone you can find.
Because they may not even be an entity anymore it is likely a non-issue.
Typically companies send cease-and-desist letters first if they believe that their i.p. is being infringed upon before launching directly into a lawsuit.
Likely you can start to develop a labor-of-love sequel and you will probably be just fine, if they somehow track you down and demand that you stop, worry about it then.
I need to find Don Traeger, the co-founder of Locomotive Games, even if he didn't develop it he'd have some information.
Lol. Good luck dealing with Japs.
>tfw can't even choose to get fucked by the japs because I don't speak japanese
>Don Traeger
linkedin.com
I know I've saw that, but like I've said the companies that he's working at look suspicious and abandoned. I've sent them mail anyways.
here's his wife's company
>traegertours.com
Wait how did you find this out?
He has a facebook too.
Jesus, you're pretty good. How did you find these out again?
facebook is /don.traeger
i have a home address if you need that too
That'll be alright, but damn, thank you so much.
I love when Veeky Forums isn't just crypto shilling.
There are a ton of different antigravity racing type franchises, I'm sure noone would bat an eye if you just made some hovercraft flying game and called it something else.
there WERE a ton
now there's like Wipeout and that's it
Interesting thread.
nice thread, id want to see where this goes, bump