SymbolShift

It appears that Wilcox is more interested is making money than preserving the memories of MM/JSW. I would guess that most users of this forum are in the latter category. Your correspondence with Wilcox also suggests this. It's obvious that Wilcox and Smith have a mutual dislike to each other. I also agree that Matthew Smith deserves a big slice of any money generated. NONE of this would exist without Matthew Smith, and it seems clear that Wilcox does not respect that fact. Wilcox has also put fans of MM/JSW in a terrible position. People are wanting to put a ton of work into a game, just to honour the original and make a handful of fans happy, even for free. However, they can't out of fear of one man. I find this to be the most disgraceful part of all this. The IP for these games is almost 40 years old now. We need to do a "Save MM/JSW" GoFundMe and raise legal fee's to help Matthew Smith sort all this out. On a completely different note, I'm curious what language you wrote JSW3 in?

Unfortunately, Steve Wilcox would attempt to sue you in a heartbeat. Even if you put the game out as free. Despite what people may think, free does not avoid IP copyrights. Numerous people involved with MM/JSW IP have received letters from Wilcox demanding money. Whether or not he actually has any real legal power is still up in the air, and a risk you would have to take. I'm in the same situation myself. I can either continue the project using MM/JSW IP, and risk a letter from Wilcox, or strip the game of any MM/JSW IP and call it something else. However, at that point, it's missing the original magic.

That's true, it's a gamble, and if you are wrong then you're on the receiving end of a lawsuit. I just wish we could get to the bottom of this and see if he has any real legal power. If he does not, then he's a dark cloud on the retro-remake scene, and that bothers me.

Someone posted this tweet on the GameMaker forum regarding Elite, thought I would share... https://twitter.com/Horsenburger/status/1129900800279502848

Unfortunately, this is how things are now. You'll spend countless hours and brain power on creating something for a handful of people who may actually appreciate it, and then spend the rest of your life having panic attacks every time you see a black helicopter. They will hunt you down in the name of money. When did we become the bad guys here?

Yeah, it would appear the legalities are designed in a way that we are not supposed to understand it. I have seen the trademark images you speak of, and it is strange that they differ from the originals. Then one could argue that trademarks and copyrights are not the same thing. It's like "intellectual property" can mean whatever they want it to mean. I may even suggest that I could finish the game (containing original assets), under an untraceable alias rather than my name. However, it's difficult to distribute mobile versions since the App stores can be traced back to the submitter quite easily. It's also possible that the .exe could contain a GameMaker license fingerprint? who knows.

Thanks JSD, you raise some good points. I just found the JetSetWilly3 thread on here today, so I will read that. I also posted this on the GameMaker Forum to see what their take was. One of the members suggested that I avoid the legal minefield altogether and not to incorporate any of the original assets. My reason for doing this was to keep the nostalgic feel of the original games, to make the player feel at home, if you will. Most of the assets will be my own, but also adding original ones also. It's also good to know that no one else (to your knowledge) has ever had to pay-up for MM/JSW copyright infringement. However, Elite has only held the IP since 2019, so that could possibly change. The idea about "sending traffic Elite's way" in the credits is also a good one. It's tempting to just keep my game as-is and if a copyright issue occurs after the release, then make the changes accordingly. In my experience, they tend to warn you before taking action. It just saddens me that any legal red-tape could discourage remakes. It's been almost 40 years, and we are still creating these purely for the love of the originals, and certainly not to get rich from doing so!

Greetings! I have been developing a MM/JSW inspired game for some time, in GameMaker Studio 2. The game will be free, and is intended for the enjoyment of the MM/JSW fan community. However, I recently discovered that Elite Systems (since 2019) now hold the intellectual property rights for both Manic Miner & Jet Set Willy, as referenced in the legal document below. It's a complex situation, since Matthew Smith still insists that he holds the rights to the games (but cannot legally prove), and has always been cool with fan released games. https://drive.google.com/file/d/1X-cGCu4azEog1bml5J6zxI5Fv8dT8iP2/view To clear things up, I contacted Steve Wilcox at Elite to receive clarification on to following questions: Am I permitted to use any of the sprites, graphics, sound effects, music from the original ZX Spectrum MM/JSW games? Can my game be released (for free) on Google Play Store, Apple App Store, etc? Am I required to mention 'Elite Systems Ltd' in the game credits? I received a brief response stating: Our position on the matter is as outlined in Link Legals statement, which you reference. Without sight of the 'MM/JSW inspired retro game' of which you wrote (and in the absence of the necessary further information to evaluate the likely commercial impact of your proposed activity) we're not able to elaborate on Link Legal's statement and we reserve all of our rights. Regards - Steve Wilcox, Director & Co-founder I appreciate a response from Steve, but he dodges the questions and the vagueness continues, as it did in the document. The document does not breakdown usage rights of sprites, graphics, sound effects or music, and just clumps everything under an 'intellectual rights' umbrella. I need specifics on what I can and cannot use. They can't exactly say "oh, that's a guy that jumps around on platforms, that's an infringement!". I also do not feel comfortable sending an 'evaluation' version of my game, which is far from finished. Has Elite realized that there is no longer money to be made from selling their games (as they tried with mobile versions), and decided there is more money to be made from suing individuals? I hope I am wrong, but If this is true, it is very sad. Especially from Elite, who have a huge catalog of ZX Spectrum games that are cherished by many. Not only that, but the one thing that has kept the MM/JSW legacy alive all these years are the countless remakes, mods and homages. If people are afraid to develop more games due to copyright infringement, is this the death of MM/JSW as we know it? From a legal perspective Matthew Smith was 'just the programmer', but I can't help feel that he has been screwed out of his own creations. It's games like MM/JSW that got many of us into programming in the first place. I'm at the point where I don't know if should spend any more time and move forward with this project. Does anyone have any input or suggestions regarding MM/JSW remakes and copyright infringement? Thanks!