Afternoon all, as the topic says i was wondering on who currently owns the rights to the RTS game Dark Colony? i know GameTek was absorbed by Ubisoft but no one really knows if DC stayed with them, any help?

Nice long list of possible candidates ;)
Depending on the contracts it could be:
SSI -> Ubisoft
Or even still in the hands of Joel Billings
Or Take 2 interactive
Much fun sorting this out ;)

According to uspto.gov, noone:

Word Mark DARK COLONY
Goods and Services (ABANDONED) IC 009. US 021 023 026 036 038. G & S: computer game cartridges, cassettes, tapes, programs and CD-ROMs, and video game cartridges and cassettes
Mark Drawing Code (1) TYPED DRAWING
Serial Number 75275853
Filing Date April 16, 1997
Current Basis 1B
Original Filing Basis 1B
Published for Opposition February 3, 1998
Owner (APPLICANT) GameTek (FL), Inc. CORPORATION FLORIDA 3 Harbor Drive, Suite 110 Sausalito CALIFORNIA 94965
Type of Mark TRADEMARK
Register PRINCIPAL
Live/Dead Indicator DEAD
Abandonment Date October 29, 1998

If I read it correctly that only applies to the trademark, but Fallan556 is I think looking for the copyright.

Good point. Checking the copyright catalogue, looks like it was copyrighted by Mark Rein-Hagen (White wolf publishing):


Date of Recordation: 1995-07-24
Entire Copyright Document: V3132P355-357

and

Date of Recordation: 1995-07-24
Entire Copyright Document: V3132P352-354

Looks like he did an AMA on Reddit, maybe he is easy to reach ... Good luck!

This one?
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mark_Rein-Hagen
It seems to match, but does not really get easier (maybe)
Can't find anything if the copyright was awarded to him on a personal level or as the boss of a company.....
White Wolf and all its IP was purchased by Paradox.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/White_Wolf_Publishing#Purchase_By_Paradox_Interactive

But yes, he might be the best person to contact as he was involved till 2007, so he shall have a good idea whom to ask next ;)

Yes, this Mark. I tried finding something more but that is as far as I got, too...

Well, his twitter handle is inscrutableone, that might be a good way to reach him.

Well.. i wasnt expecting so much help! thanks so much everyone! i really appreciate it!

*runs by struggling violently to remove squid from head while having arms through pant legs and squid smacks him with a baguette*

Pretty sure that these copyrights have nothing to do with the videogame and are instead about the similarly-named Vampire the Masquerade sourcebook. After all, Mark Rein-Hagen was the creator and owner of the Vampire the Masquerade series.

You see Fallen556 ^^, just the usual normal crazy day here:

*reaching for microphone*

attention in isle 8, we need somebody to wipe up some liquid, leftover from:
https://www.gog.com/forum/general/i_was_promised_two_refunds_and_received_one

GameTek was shut down and its remains acquired by Take-Two Interactive, not Ubisoft.

Take-Two Interactive also published the original game in Brazil and were the publishers of the expansion worldwide, so they seem to be its most likely owners. But, in the world of copyright, strange things can happen, so don't be surprised if the rights are owned by a completely-unrelated-to-videogames group.

Indeed :)
Hmm could be, but these are the only records for Dark Colony in the digital archive in the US. So I guess the only other way to know for sure is to go through physical records, but that is out of reach for me :)
Most likely records from 1998 are digitalized already, so maybe this is not copyrighted anymore after all.. I will leave this for someone else to check, though.

Loved that game! Tough as nails though :P