> ...or the copyright holder went bust, and now nobody owns it...
Somebody still owns it until the copyright expires. Just because the company is no longer in business doesn't mean the copyright disappeared. If the company closed without debt but the person(s) involved just lost interest, he/she/they can still hold the copyright. A company folding to debt, one of the creditors may have it in a filing cabinet somewhere, or might have sold it to someone else who now sits on it to help recover part of said debt.
Dont count out old game copyrights that still fall into valid copyright timeframes. Look at the "retro" packs selling recent ports of legit pacman, space invaders, etc. and the things Tulip are doing with some old C=64 games. These guys bought the rights to these old games. They sat ona shelf or something for a long time, but have come back in truely legit copyright form, and the new owners won't take kindly to Ebay DVDs distracting their clientele.
Sure, some is truely abandoned. But that still gives no one the right to sell ripoffs on Ebay without the guy holding the copyright certificate's approval, regardless of his current intentions regarding future republications. He might not care now, but might get a good offer for the rights from someone like Tulip or the Atari retro pack guys.
Just to point out that the above quote isn't a good reason to assume you can sell ripped old games...
