There are very few Arcade games in the Public Domain.
Here is a list of the ones I am aware of:
Gridlee
Poly-Play
Robby Roto
Additional games listed at PDRoms:
Mine Sweeper
Neo No Panepon (Beta 7th July 2002 MAMEFIX)
Neo No Panepon (Beta 7th July 2002)
NeoPong v1.1
Vantris
Guest wrote:Also do or will copyrighted ROMs eventually reach or become public domain status?
Copyrights are valid in the US for 70 years. In other words if a games was released in 1980, it will fall into the Public Domain in 2050. Of course other countries have different or none existent copyright laws.
Guest wrote:It all depends on the original authors, creators and companies right?
Correct again
Although rare, companies sometimes do release their games into the public domain.
In some cases Companies go bankrupt, are sold, bought out, ect. This makes it hard to determine who the actual copyright holder may be.
Many people consider these and older games (roms) as "abandonware". Basically these games have copyright holders who are not actively protecting their copyright.
Although many feel these games are "fair game", they are still copyrighted and distributing them without permission is technically piracy.