Alright, this is sorta hypothetically speaking. Let's say somebody created a game based off somebodys' elses license that was popular. This series of games lacked multiplayer and if they created the game and sorta mended it to their likings and added an mmorpg aspect to it. And it had a good fan base. If you were in the person's shoe that owned the license how would you react? And how would you react if you were looking to hire this person, but found this out? To me, I wouldn't like it at all and ask them to shut it down and if I were hiring this person, I wouldn't because they can't be trusted. But of course, I like to think that the glass is empty rather than half empty.

Well, if the person owning the license had decent evidence that the product was using their licensed materal, they would be entirely within their right to sue the other party for infringement. Of course, whether this really means anything depends on how successful the license was (all comes down to money ;)) As far as hiring the person... I guess it really depends on a lot more than the information you provided, because the situation you described could range anywhere from a simple misunderstanding to blatant and malicious stealing of copyrighted work. I'd like to say give people the benefit of the doubt, but that doesn't mean that they'll still come out clean ;)

Well, I suppose it would all depend on who owns the license.. but since I do....

First of all, are they making money off it? If they are, that's a really really big no-no.. they're getting shut down. It's nothing personal towards the developer, it's just that they're making money off ideas that I own and possibly ruin the chance for me to make a venture into that market.

Would I hire them? Depends. I would not hold doing something like this against them. If they modified my actual game to add features that I planned to add later, and they did it well, heck yes I would hire them. Like if I make an FPS, and somebody programs the best bots anybody has ever seen for it.. damnit i'm going to hire them for my next FPS project to do bot programming

Personally, if there was already a fan base, and if the game didn't soil the reputation of the license, I'd probably hire them on the condition that I the license holder [or more likely my company] essentially gains the exclusive rights to the game and at least a heafty royalty from any previous and future sales. In return, my company would help support the developer and the game.

I would at least look into making the developer get a license, and pay me royalties. Making money off of someone else's work for little to no risk is great.

If they just have it for free [and I'd possibly make a similar game] or if it sucks... prolly a nice letter followed by attack lawyers.

Well, let's say it's made freely available. Just a few ads to keep the server up.

Then yes, I fully expect the company to act to protect its license with pretty much no recourse for the developer.

If I were the license holder, I would very much take it into consideration if attmepting to hire. If the game is good, good! If it sucks, not so good. And it proves the developer is a fan, which can be a good thing [motivated to work] or a bad thing [emotionally attached to something that sometimes requires impartiality] depending on the hiring manager.