Copyrights question about abandonware.

Hey, so ive tried to get an answer but i never could so im posting this here.
Im working on a big mod, its the muscle car named mc prime from street legal racing redline.
I am aware about the whole copyrights thing but i would like to upload this to the repo, but since slrr is abandonware, you can download it for free on the official modding website (which is hosted by some of the old devs)
I got told that i should ask whoever is currently selling the game on steam, but that is a massive patch which adds a ton of stuff and fixes bugs. But i didnt get a reply from them.
The big question here is, even if its being sold on steam, its still available for free on the modding website. I asked one of the devs from there and they said it is abandonware so there are no issues.
I would just like to have a confirmation that it is ok to upload it on the repo, so that when its ready to be released i can go straight to the repo and not wait around for an answer.

 

Yeah, they said its not a problem with them and for copyrights, if there was any its not active anymore plus its abandonware.
I just wanna make sure its ok, i would not want to put anyone in trouble for this.

 

Now this is odd...

If it's available on Steam, it's not abandonware. Who's selling it must have got the rights over the franchise, game content or possibly both.

 

Its a bunch of russians, but they are actually doing a good job unlike some others.
The game on steam is 2.3.1, on the website the lastest version is 2.3.0. but its a pretty big patch that adds fixes and ton of stuff.
thats why its confusing for me lol.

 

Well, can they do what they do? I mean, updating an abandoned game for money?

If they're allowed to, they're likely the current rightful owners of the game.

Developers can withdraw/sell intellectual property, so even if one of the creators of the game says it's fine with him to reutilize assets from his creation, he might not be the one to ask for authorization anymore.

 

well the ones who are currently selling it didnt reply. but 2.3.1 and 2.3.0 and under are different versions of the game.

 

Don't know... It's kind of a grey area. As long as we don't know if copyright still holds, and who's the actual rightholder, it's hard to say.

 

Thats the issue............................
ill try to confirm it with the ones who are currently selling it, just to "triple check" just to make sure that no one gets im trouble.
Its weird since on the page it still says that the publisher is activation and them+the old devs as the developer.

 

In my mind it would be ok... but I mean... this is a rather odd circumstance.

 

yeah, id rather have a yes then its ok i think ish as an answer.

 

The game is abandonware, but engine and assets were on sale, according to this Facebook entry from Invictus Games.

My guess is those russians have purchased them and resumed development/built a clone. So the assets are likely theirs now.
--- Post updated ---
Also, from the 3rd Party EULA on Steam:

 

Nah they didnt purchase anything. there are a lot of mods/"patches" on the modding website for slrr. its slrr with modified code since some of the source code is available and all that. i cant say for sure but i know that they most likely didnt purchase anything.
--- Post updated ---

So thats for commercial use right? Plus thats for the software itself. those are artistic assets. so its not really the same thing unless they are in the same category.




Also the post that they made on facebook was for a game called Heat Online. i dont think this was meant for slrr.

 

I see. Well, Steam has some wierd policies in this regard, I don't think they should be allowed to sell a mod including portions of abandoned software, but hey, what do I know.

Not strictly commercial use and... This boils down to the same issue as above: who's the assets rightholder?

 

I dont know why i didnt think of this but i sent an email to their support email. for the ones selling the game on steam.
If i have a yes, from the old devs, the current devs and from here, then its a yes.
as of now the whole copyrights seems to be lost in between of all this.
Hopefully i can get an actual answer from all this lol.
--- Post updated ---

Small update on this.
Some of the guys on the steam forum said that the devs mentioned that if its non commercial then its no problem.
Id like to see the actual comment but its a yes for all i know now.

EDIT

Got a reply. its a yes

 

Nice! Is this mode that engine part configurator? If so I can't wait to see how it pans out!

 

That looks compleatly awesome! Well done sir! Well done!

 

thank you lol.
Trust me tho, there is WAY MORE then just the engine
Also, the different parts as shown will not change much in terms of specs, i think ill just add different colors and thats all since there isnt much i can do with beamng's engine, plus i pretty much suck at engine specs. if youd like to help id love to help you since engine specs arent my strong place.

 

If need be, I can help with engines... thats pretty much my speciality