(TFT) TFT Rights

[Michael Taylor <MichaelTaylor1@compuserve.com>]

Now, please forgive me if this seems a little slimy - I'm not really
'proposing' it so much as 'role-playing' it. 

But why hasn't anyone - particularly Steve Jackson - just started
publishing TFT again?

As I understand it, Howard Thompson disappeared from site to avoid paying
his publishing bills. Therefore, if Steve Jackson started publishing TFT
again, in order to defend his copyright, Howard Thompson would have to come
out of hiding - and therefore be subject to lawsuits of his own. 

If Howard didn't come out of the woodwork then eventually (I'm not sure how
long it would take) the copyright would be 'unprotected' and I believe it
would considered public domain at that point (any lawyers out there?).

If Howard did come out of the woodwork, he'd have so many legal troubles of
his own that he would probably be unable to sue Steve Jackson. Also even if
he did sue Steve Jackson, he would probably lose, because as I understand
it the courts almost always side with the origional creator - regardless of
the actual contract (I'm thinking of the "Mr. Bill" case where even though
the creator clearly had given up all rights, they were returned to him when
it started making money). Especially in the case of 'ulimatum' contracts
(What I've heard is that the way it went down was that Steve Jackson could
keep either Ogre and Car Wars or TFT and decided to keep Car Wars and Ogre
because 'there are already plenty of fantasy games out there'). 

Any thoughts?

Michael

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