Copyrights on mods

[The Savage]

Well, you don't say. Of course abandonware isn't legally recognised. It's an informal term for when a company cares so little for a product it doesn't even bother to issue a notice of discontinuation.

There's also little to no chance of Freelancer making it on to Gog for that same reason. Microsoft isn't interested in the IP and persistent rumour says they've lost the source files that would enable them to formally distribute rights to third parties anyway.

Now, that replies my question regarding Freelancer. Thank you for clarification, pretty appreciated. As for loss of source code - it's painful, since the very same fate met Homeworld: Cataclysm.