
The rights to Ms. Pac-Man are caught up in a messy legal battle - Tomte
https://arstechnica.com/gaming/2019/09/the-rights-to-ms-pac-man-are-caught-in-a-messy-legal-battle/
======
EvanAnderson
The story of Ms. Pac-Man[1] (also linked in the article here) is very
interesting. The developers created the game as an "enhancement kit" to Pac-
Man. They didn't just burn new ROMs, though-- they actually made a
daughterboard that attached to a stock Pac-Man that could selectively patch-
out the original ROMs to avoid duplicating any of the original code.

1] [https://www.fastcompany.com/3067296/the-mit-dropouts-who-
cre...](https://www.fastcompany.com/3067296/the-mit-dropouts-who-created-ms-
pac-man-a-35th-anniversary-oral-history)

~~~
CharlesW
The uncredited artist who actually created the final visual design of Ms. Pac-
Man was Sharon Perry/Barr, who also worked on Discs of Tron, Spy Hunter,
Rampage, Demolition Derby, and many other classics.

(I got to see some design artifacts while working with her on a Sega Genesis
game. You can find a mention of this, as well as a picture of her as a
vampire, here: [https://www.arcade-history.com/?n=the-spectre-files-
deathsta...](https://www.arcade-history.com/?n=the-spectre-files-
deathstalker&page=detail&id=146787))

------
zucker42
It's unbelievable how long copyright lasts. It seems unlikely that the
prospect of legal battles 40 years in the future were part of the original Ms.
Pac-Man developers' motivations for creating the game.

~~~
mjevans
It is my personal belief that in many fields patents last too long already.
Copyrights are just beyond insane.

I like the idea of initial automatic copyright (like it currently is); though
I think the duration on that might be better as 5 or 10 years.

Lets go with 10 years for the first initial, automatic copyright, just as a
starting point. Also add in one additional year to allow for paperwork filing;
so 11 years. Past that point in time I'd like to see a requirement for
continued registration (and a filing fee that increases exponentially); I also
would like compulsory rates per type of work. Those should be set by the
library of congress (and contestable by lawsuit). The compulsory rate also
requires furnishing, for a reasonable fee, a unit of the work that is
unencumbered by technological restrictions preventing the study and
modification of the work in question.

------
mysterydip
Unfortunately not the only game like this. Tons of 80s and 90s games'
ownerships are tied up in a quagmire of acquisitions, bankruptcies, and
closings. Some IP rights lie with companies not even involved in gaming, yet
still protected even though they have no plans to reproduce or resell.

------
purplezooey
They were always at Pizza Hut in the tabletop format.

------
taborj
Great video in the comments of that article, from one of the original
creators:
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rhM8NAMW_VQ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rhM8NAMW_VQ)

------
morkfromork
Namco is probably spending more $ on lawyers than they are developing and
maintaining Pac-Man and Ms. Pac-Man products.

~~~
Pfhreak
Pacman games were released in 2011, 2013, 2014, 2016. A compilation cabinet
was released in 2018. iOS and Android games have been released in 2016, 2017.

I'd be surprised if your assertion was true.

~~~
morkfromork
I worked there. I made some of those.

