Ken: King’s Quest PCjr copyright owners

[Unknown,Unknown]

Hi Ken,

I was wondering if you would know exactly who owns the full rights to the PCjr version of King’s Quest (and only this version).
Does IBM own full rights, since they funded the project and released the game under their name, or does Sierra owns some rights, such as the names (King’s Quest, Sir Graham(e), Daventry, …), or does Sierra owns full rights, for example if you bought them from IBM at some time, or because of the initial contract?

I am asking because if IBM owns full rights to the PCjr version, it may be “easier” (well, say slightly less difficult) to obtain the rights to redistribute the game by electronic means from them, especially since this can be “bundled” with the rights for the PCjr BIOS ROM needed to run a PCjr emulation.

Thanks for any information you may have.

Vincent.

[Unknown,Unknown]

(re: Ken: King’s Quest PCjr copyright owners) I remember that the IBM contract for the PCjr version of Kings Quest was very non-restrictive for Sierra. IBM didn’t ask for any exclusivity, or ownership of anything produced.
Times have changed, but at the time, IBM was in the position that Microsoft is today. Even more so. IBM was so dominant that there were lots of rumors that the courts would break them up, as had just been done to AT&T. In our agreement with IBM, they bent over backwards to make sure that the agreement was absolutely fair to Sierra.
It has been nearly 30 years since I saw the agreement, but I would be very surprised if IBM has any rights at all to the code. My guess is that Vivendi, and VU Games, have 100% ownership of the code, characters, plot, trademark, copyrights, etc.
-Ken W

[Author]

Posts