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There was a strategy game where I and my friends played for several years. The original developers closed the game 3 years ago. We have asked them to open the source code when they did it but they did not reply. Their firm is liquidated now.
One of their previous domain names will expire in the next year. We have web archives, so we can recreate the game. It will be open source if we do it. Can we reuse images from the archives after a time or not in this case?
Can we reuse images from the archives after a time or not in this case?
Yes, you can use the images for free and without permission 95 years after their first publication in a US jurisdiction, and between 50 and 70 years after the death of the author in other jurisdictions.
But thats not the question you are really asking, is it?
No, you can't use the images now without permission - despite the company being liquidated and no longer in existence, the copyrights to the images are still owned by someone, somewhere because they were a company asset.
You would need permission from whomever holds those copyrights to use the images in your project today.