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Old 10-25-2005, 06:44 AM   #161
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I am not a lawyer either, but I'm fairly confident on this point. As long as there was anything in KQIX that Vivendi could argue was clearly identifiable as taken from the KQ games (even if appearing under a different name), they could stop the game's release.

One thing KQIX has going for it is that many elements of KQ are generic or taken from older stories. Obviously, Vivendi can't stop every game that features a king, for instance. On the other hand, it's not good enough to argue that "these elements have individually appeared outside of the KQ series, so when we are using them we're not ripping off KQ," because the unique combination of them is still copyrighted. Of course, the point at which a combination of generic elements becomes identifiable as something in particular is somewhat subjective. Since it's well known that this game was developed as a King's Quest game, it's not going to get any benefit of doubt: if something appears to be taken from the KQ games, the assumption will be that it is.

It is very frustrating that all the work is going to be wasted. The only faint hope I can see would be for the team to work out a deal with Vivendi, where they licensed the right to use KQ.

Meanwhile, Just Adventure+ reports: "There's more behind Vivendi's decision than has been revealed and we hope to soon impart more details."

An official KQ9? I don't really believe in it. Besides, I don't know that I'd get very excited about a King's Quest game produced by Vivendi anyway.
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Old 10-25-2005, 06:48 AM   #162
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I'm not exactly sure why they called this game King Quest 9. I mean, isn't that asking for trouble? It means that it prevents Vivendi from even thinking about making their own KQ9 (even though that's an highly unlikely possibility).

Calling it King Quest 8 1/2, or whatever, could have at least avoided this particular problem.
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Old 10-25-2005, 09:44 AM   #163
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Snarky
Let me repost (with some edits) something I wrote on the AGS Forums...
Rationally speaking, I agree with all your thoughts here. But I can't stop wondering that Vivendi are proclaimed heartless bastards for making something that could be foreseen long ago, and the Phoenix team don't care to personally explain why they won't realise their promise to simply retouch some details if copyright holders interfere (or don't remove said promise from their FAQ, at the very least), and that's OK.

I almost believe that the team's apparent passiveness is caused by intensive negotiations with Vivendi and we'll see KQIX after all...
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Old 10-25-2005, 11:24 AM   #164
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I just opened a new thread about this, but wanted to reply in here also. Several of us King's Quest fans have organized, and launched a website to try to save the game. Hope you'll pop in and check it out.

http://www.savekqix.org

--Matt
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Old 10-26-2005, 03:22 AM   #165
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Quote:
Rationally speaking, I agree with all your thoughts here. But I can't stop wondering that Vivendi are proclaimed heartless bastards for making something that could be foreseen long ago, and the Phoenix team don't care to personally explain why they won't realise their promise to simply retouch some details if copyright holders interfere (or don't remove said promise from their FAQ, at the very least), and that's OK.
I think it's simply nobody ever expected to be obliged to call that particular pony home. While everyone probably knew that a c&d remained a possibility, the general consensus (on the public forum at least) was that VU was either going to ignore KQ9 or approach it with a business deal. As has been mentioned in just about every discussion on this matter, changing a few names here and there has as much effect as the name change from KQ9 to KQIX has had. I once inquired about the effects of removing all KQ references from the game in order to avoid copyright infringement and it seemed the project would pretty much fall apart if the KQ element was taken out. If I look at all the screenshots that had familiar settings and characters, I can easily see that that would probably be the case. It was probably the KQ-game that topped every other KQ-game in terms of references to earlier parts of the series. The promise should have been removed from the FAQ quite a while ago, but most people would probably remember it used to be there before, so it wouldn't matter that much in practice.

Quote:
I almost believe that the team's apparent passiveness is caused by intensive negotiations with Vivendi and we'll see KQIX after all...
"Intense negotiations" with VU are unlikely...the KQ franchise is not exactly the most valuable property VU Games owns. Negotiations are more likely in the form of communication (either by phone or email) once every week or so, but I don't think the board will be planning extra meetings over this. The "passiveness" probably means the Phoenix team has no idea of the outcome yet. As long as there's still hope of being able to continue, it's not a good idea to do anything that has the potential to upset VU or show them you're not interested in a deal.

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Old 10-26-2005, 08:50 AM   #166
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From Petter at JA+ -

Quote:
First of all, it's truly moving to see how passionate our fans are. Smiley So far I count three websites devoted to saving KQIX. This is all voluntary and costs people time and money. The team is of course not active in these petitions, using them to our advantage, but we hope they will help us and it's certainly possible that they will.

I also would like to encourage everyone to be patient with us at this time. Updates on the situation will come as soon as possible. I don't know how soon that will be though.

Also, I can repeat what César said at our forums and let you know that the dream of KQIX is not dead yet, so don't feel too bad about it right now. And even if the day comes when KQIX has to be declared dead, it's not before we have done everything we can to save it, which fully excludes legally ambivalent solutions and solutions that will sacrifice the spirit of the game as we intended it to be. And in any outcome, there is no end in sight for the team itself. Only greater things for the future!
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Old 12-09-2005, 12:12 AM   #167
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Hi All,

To wanting to know:

It seems that VU is in great trouble.

Do check following link:

http://www.kqix.com/forum/index.php?topic=3003.msg134510#msg134510

Regards
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Old 12-09-2005, 12:55 AM   #168
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That link leads to a list of news items concerning Vivendi from all over the Internet. Any specific news you have in mind? And does it have anything to do with KQIX?
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Old 12-09-2005, 01:09 AM   #169
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I'm not entire sure it has something to do with KQIX. However, let's keep our fingers crossed.
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Old 12-09-2005, 02:16 AM   #170
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So what do you mean by "It seems that VU is in great trouble."?
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Old 12-09-2005, 02:20 AM   #171
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I second the AFGNCAAP's question. The link provided doesn't anywere indicate or otherwise state that Vivendi is in trouble.
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Old 12-09-2005, 02:33 AM   #172
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Is he suggesting that VU going bankrupt and hundreds of people losing their jobs would be a good thing and that Kings Quest IX could then go ahead.

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Old 12-09-2005, 02:47 AM   #173
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I think it's a well known fact now that Vivendi's been through a lot of finantial problems in the last years and its eventual bankrupcy has been rumoured long enough, so I don't see any news on this.

Not that I think that it would be good either.
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Old 12-09-2005, 02:49 AM   #174
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BTW, even if Vivendi closed its doors, I think it would still be illegal for the team to release KQIX.
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Old 12-09-2005, 09:24 AM   #175
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They would still hold the copyrights as far as I know. Dunno if a company has to be actively trading to hold copyrights. Seems highly unlikely.
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Old 12-09-2005, 09:45 AM   #176
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If Vivendi were to go bankrupt (which is unlikely because the games division is linked to all kinds of other companies) then the assets would be sold off to cover some of the company's debts, so the licences would merely pass to the highest bidder. As such, the copyright would still be very much enforcable.

I guess.
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Old 12-11-2005, 10:27 PM   #177
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Quote:
Originally Posted by kelmer
BTW, even if Vivendi closed its doors, I think it would still be illegal for the team to release KQIX.
In case you haven't notice:

In case you haven't notice, POS isn't release game under "KQIX"

POS receive license in changing game title to: "The Silver Lining"

Greater relief is that everything else in game remains the same.
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Old 12-11-2005, 11:25 PM   #178
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I know, I posted that before the news got to me (in fact, before the entire world learned of them).
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Old 12-12-2005, 03:16 AM   #179
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I'm going to close this thread now, for obvious reasons!

Feel free to talk about this game's new future in the KQIX Saved thread.
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Old 12-12-2005, 01:38 PM   #180
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King's Quest IX thread forced to close!

A website has been started to work towards the reinstatement of the locked King's Quest IX thread. The group hopes to prove to Dale Baldwin, Inc. that the thread should be allowed to continue.

Sorry, couldn't resist.
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