rtcvb32: My personal opinion on the matter? If the game/franchise was abandoned for 10+ years then it's public domain... Same for software, OSes, books, etc.
Smannesman: My personal opinion is that I should be allowed to murder people that really annoy me with no consequences.. shame the law doesn't agree with me.
What rtcvb32 is saying is not that absurd, actually.
I'm probably just stating the obvious, but in civil law systems (I have no idea if this exists also in common law ones) there is a method to gain ownership of something called "usucapion", directly descended from Roman law: if the legitimate owner does not use something for a certain amount of time -which varies based on the kind of good we are talking about and on the needs of society- the property passes to those who use it, regardless if they previously had right to do so or not.
It was created to avoid any kind of waste, mostly those concerning farming grounds, and I think it could benefit intellectual properties a lot if only it could be applied there.
Unfortunately, Capitalism in general strongly opposes the notion. Better to let something die than allow others to profit on it, a very healthy custom for sure. I think too many people see Law as perfect and infallible, while it always has huge gaps that a certain kind of people readily exploits -those regarding copyright being just an example. Imo, something unused (and thus bringing no advantage to anyone) is something someone else should get, to hell with property, and I would urge legislators to consider this more, if only I could -and provided they were willing, something I strongly doubt.
Edit: I forgot a verb! :P