[warbler73]

In the US for copyright to transfer he'd need to be an employee and writing part of his work duties, in which case it is work for hire, or if he is a contractor they'd need a signed contract saying the contractor was performing this as work for hire, or a contract explicitly transferring ownership. They did pay him for it so Mojang had an implied license to use it but he retains ownership.

When Mojang sold Minecraft to Microsoft, they did not own the copyright and did not have a contract saying they have the right to transfer their implied license, therefore Microsoft actually is violating copyright here.

Source: I went through exactly this same legal scenario and won.

[hnbad]

Wait, I thought Minecraft bought out Mojang, not bought Minecraft from Mojang? If they really did just buy the game and not the entire company, I think you're right and Microsoft may be in violation. If they bought the company, they would have inherited the license as I understand it.

EDIT: IANAL but as long as Minecraft continues being sold by Mojang, not Microsoft, it shouldn't matter whether Microsoft owns the company or not as long as the implied contract was with Mojang, not e.g. Notch.

[warbler73]

You're right, they acquired Mojang and its transferable assets. But those assets don't include the implied license since there is no contract saying it is a transferable license.

[richardwhiuk]

IANAL - but legally it probably hasn't been transferred if the Mojang company is still responsible for distribution.