The Millennium Dome has been accused of trying to sell assets it does not own in what has been described as a "giant car boot sale".

The designer of the Dome's Play Zone says several complete games from the zone are being offered for sale, even though the special software devised for the games is still owned by the artists who created them.

The zone, one of the Dome's most popular and successful exhibits, featured several specially-designed games.

Dome owns only hardware

They are now being offered for sale by private treaty on the website of Henry Butcher, the firm selling off the Dome's contents, along with items ranging from sound and lighting equipment to the giant crouching boy from the Mind Zone and 310 hamster cages.

But Peter Higgins, whose company Land Design was the overall designer of the Play Zone, says the Dome only owns the hardware - like cameras, screens and projectors - associated with the games in the zone.

The unique computer software which makes them work remains the property of each game's creator.

By offering entire games for sale, he claims Henry Butcher is infringing the software owners' rights, and he wants the advertisement for the games removed.

And he says the way the Dome's assets are being disposed of in general has been poorly planned.

Licence hopes

He says efforts should have been made to sell assets on to other lottery projects or to museums, rather than offering them to the highest bidder in a process he likens to a car boot sale.

Henry Butcher acknowledges that the Dome does not own the Play Zone software, but says it is hoping the games' creators will agree to licence them to new owners.

That is why the games are being sold by private treaty rather than included in the auction of Dome assets scheduled to start on 27 February. A private sale gives Henry Butcher, the Dome and the owners of software rights the chance to vet potential buyers.

The Dome itself says it would be marvellous if some of the games in the Play Zone could find new homes and points out that one of the two "kaleidoscope" games in the zone are likely to go to a school for children with learning difficulties, as reported on the BBC Radio 4's Today programme last month.

But Peter Higgins claims it is unlikely that the games' creators will be willing to sell their software to new owners.

Year of negotiation

He says it took 12 months of negotiation to persuade some of the artists involved even to licence their software to the Dome.

They could simply refuse to deal with anyone buying the hardware if they thought their games might appear in a purely commercial context.

Many of the Dome's contents are currently being offered for sale by private treaty, although Henry Butcher says nothing will actually be sold until contracts have been exchanged on the sale of the Dome itself to the government's preferred bidder, Legacy. That is due to happen by 14 February.

Anything that remains unsold by mid-February - and that could include Play Zone hardware like plasma screens and cameras if a deal cannot be done with the software owners to sell entire games - is likely to be offered for sale at auction.