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posted by Fnord666 on Wednesday May 16 2018, @11:09AM   Printer-friendly
from the stop-monkeying-around dept.

Submitted via IRC for SoyCow0245

The Monkey Island is probably one of the most important landmarks in gaming history. For the millions who played it, it not only confirmed that games could become an artform, but also that they could be deeply, outrageously funny.

Over the course of five games, the Monkey Island series tells the tale of the endearingly hapless Guybrush Threepwood, and his quest to become the most feared pirate in the Caribbean.

[...] Monkey Island was just one of many iconic adventure games that came out of LucasArts. Its stablemates include the beloved Sam and Max series, Grim Fandango, and Maniac Mansion: Day of the Tentacle

When Disney acquired LucasArts parent LucasFilm in 2012, it signified the end of an era. Disney's never really been that interested in games, and in 2016 the company announced that it would cease in-house production entirely, and transition to an IP licensing model, leaving the future of the Monkey Island series in doubt.

In 2016, Monkey Island co-founder Ron Gilbert asked Disney on Twitter for the chance to buy the Monkey Island and "Mansion Mansion [sic]" IPs, adding he'll "pay real actual money for them."

So far, Disney has remained tight-lipped, but fans have launched a petition begging the company to agree to Gilbert's request.

Although the petition is over a year old, it's picked up momentum in recent months, and in total has attracted over 12,000 signatures in total. This puts it within a hair's width of its 15,000 signature goal.

Source: https://thenextweb.com/gaming/2018/05/15/monkey-island-fans-are-begging-disney-to-sell-the-rights-back-to-its-creator/


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  • (Score: 2) by Wootery on Wednesday May 16 2018, @04:05PM (3 children)

    by Wootery (2341) on Wednesday May 16 2018, @04:05PM (#680426)

    Pretty sure the 'moral rights' concept wouldn't have entitled the author to make a derivative work if they'd already sold the copyrights.

    (For what it's worth, I'm British.)

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  • (Score: 2) by c0lo on Thursday May 17 2018, @12:22AM (2 children)

    by c0lo (156) Subscriber Badge on Thursday May 17 2018, @12:22AM (#680569) Journal

    Pretty sure the 'moral rights' concept wouldn't have entitled the author to make a derivative work if they'd already sold the copyrights.

    Copyright restricts distribution, not creation.
    Also, it depends on the type of the art - I don't see how copyright can stop a painter to paint the the same landscape or the portrait of the same person after he sold one with the same subject.

    In literature and movies there are additional requirements for protecting fictional character names [wikipedia.org], requirements that Guybrush Threepwood aren't likely to pass (but Harry Potter will). One may need to obtain a trademark for the likeness.
    The plot of a story is equally not copyrightable (so, treasure hunting as a plot isn't protected) the

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    • (Score: 2) by Wootery on Thursday May 17 2018, @08:44AM (1 child)

      by Wootery (2341) on Thursday May 17 2018, @08:44AM (#680662)

      Copyright restricts distribution, not creation.

      A valid point, but in this case I don't think it would matter. The Monkey Island guy surely has no interest in developing a title that he can't publish.

      • (Score: 2) by c0lo on Thursday May 17 2018, @08:55AM

        by c0lo (156) Subscriber Badge on Thursday May 17 2018, @08:55AM (#680663) Journal

        He could, however, publish a new game named "Simian archipelago" or something.
        Same quirky feeling, other visual content and dialogues.

        --
        https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aoFiw2jMy-0 https://soylentnews.org/~MichaelDavidCrawford