So are the 'classic' sprites public domain? I'm sure the other characters are some minor variation of the original - but it leaves me wondering if copyright has a lower threshold/bound in terms of resolution?
In a 7x7 grid theres still a lot of variations (2^49?) - ranging down to the 'single pixel' works of early 20th century avant-garde monochromatic paintings.
Anyhow, neat product and I'm sure even a lawsuit from Midway/Atari would be good press.
There's one case I recall that's close enough. A couple years ago there was a chiptune cover album of the Miles Davis classic Kind of Blue, complete with a pixel-art version of the cover. The photographer of the original cover art sued over the pixelized version. You can read the whole story here: http://waxy.org/2011/06/kind_of_screwed/
In a 7x7 grid theres still a lot of variations (2^49?) - ranging down to the 'single pixel' works of early 20th century avant-garde monochromatic paintings.
Anyhow, neat product and I'm sure even a lawsuit from Midway/Atari would be good press.