Comment by tonyarkles
1 day ago
> If the game studios were actually not being assholes, they could each say, "You know what, we're not making any money from whatever rights we might or might not have, so, lawyers: scram and go do something else. Here's a signed paper saying we give up all rights to the IP. Go have a ball."
Someone else in the thread mentioned “creating liability where we previously had none”. Let’s say all of the game studios in your scenario do what you’re proposing, but as it turns out none of them actually had the right to re-release the soundtrack because of a separate contract that some subset of them had with a music producer. That music producer didn’t even know the game had been re-released until it had been out for two years and it turns out he’s really pissed that he hasn’t been getting royalties…
Maybe this is a rash way to live my life, but I have always believed that in 99% of cases, “liability” is a boogeyman, a spook story, that lawyers scare their kids with. “Don’t misbehave, or Liability’s gonna get ya!” I walk around all day “creating liability” everywhere I go, by simply existing. Never been sued yet.
I know corporations with Serious General Counsel don’t think this way but it’s kind of a shame we have evolved such an intense risk-aversion.