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[AndyNN]

I was looking through my old hard drive to other day and found a finished gba game that was unpublished. The original publishers went out of business in 2002 and the development company that I worked for also went out of business in 2002. This game has a very interesting play mechanic that has never been done before and it got me wondering that the idea would work really well on the current mobile devices.

So my question is how do I stand legally if I take the idea/design and refactor all the assets and just completely rewrite all the code? This needs to be done anyway because of new mobile hardware.

I know game mechanics can be copied but you cannot use anything copyrighted. But because I have insiders knowledge where would I stand legally?

[Radix]

ianal but considering examples of things like Freedoom and Chuck's Challenge I'd be really surprised if you weren't a hundred percent in the clear legally.

[eyeliner]

If you make a driving game, will you be sued by EA/Ubisoft/Sony/Nintendo/Microsoft and all others?

Of course not. Just use new assets just to be sure and use the mechanic. All clear.

[AndyNN]

If you make a driving game, will you be sued by EA/Ubisoft/Sony/Nintendo/Microsoft and all others?

Of course not. Just use new assets just to be sure and use the mechanic. All clear.

So it seems fine to do so. Excellent!

[Mittens]

yeah just don't use any existing sprites, sounds or other artwork, since the copywrite to things like that are automatically in the hands of the respective artists, making it illegal for you to use without them expressly (in writing) signing their copywrite over to you

[Oskuro]

Even if the game was unreleased, and the company went under, it is possible that someone somewhere still has a claim to it (A lot of people make a living out of copyright litigation).

As has been said, just to be on the safe side, make your own assets.