Changyou.com
Changyou.com ltd is an online game company that purchased Shadowbane on April 2012 and is the current legal owner of the intellectual property.
IP Status
Shadowbane, its expansions, and Changyou.com's behavior towards the intellectual property meet the definition of abandonware. Though third parties can claim no legal ownership of it, no legal action or threat thereof has ever been seen towards any emulator service.
Patent Expiration
Under United States patent law, the Shadowbane patent will expire in 2021.
History
In April 2012, Changyou announced it intended to develop a new version of the game which would be titled "World of Shadowbane". They released some apparent screen shots of this game, which seemed to be in no way similar to the original.
No further information has ever been released regarding World of Shadowbane, leading some to believe it was simply vaporware.
