Chris, I moved your topic :p
Al Lowe surely doesn’t have the rights to the Black Cauldron game. He just figures VU Games & Disney probably don’t care, and he’d be right.
Ken previously wrote about some of what you’re asking here: http://www.sierragamers.com/bbs/BBSTopicPage.asp/t/4474/p/1
In summary, he said: “I do remember that the authors [of Gold Rush] kept trying to get the rights back so that they could sell the game themselves… my remembrance is that I gave them permission. Most publishers wouldn’t.”