The Warring States of NPF - View Single Post - Things that should be done to break the piracy debate.

synkr0nized · 02-22-2010, 07:07 PM

Oh, this is a good place for me to ask you, Blues, since I didn't want to tard up that other thread with this discussion.

Do you have references - that aren't Abandonia's pages - that prove the legality of "abandonware"? I found none today when I went poking about, and most of what I came across affirmed the illegality of it regardless of the very positive and good intentions of the people running such sites. I ask this not to argue with you, but because I really want to know what legal standing these sites are sitting on.

I saw provisions for public/library archives and free reign for software that has fallen out of copyright, but for most software it appears that the copyright should still be protecting it. Not being able to purchase something and/or lack of action on the part of the copyright holders wasn't meant to be construed as a green light to go.

Here's some stuff I came across:

Gamespot article that interviews game developers, abandonware site owners, and some gamers

US copyright law allows an exemption for places, such as the Internet Archive [who pushed for this], to have non-infringing uses of such software to be able to preserve software without the copy protection schemes it may have once had (eg: requiring a dongle to be attached to the machine, obsolete source media). This is not claiming it is OK for users to download free copies of the software.

On the other hand, the Orphan Works Act of 2006 seems to provide provisions for "infringers" to be fine if they conduct a "reasonable search" for the correct information and original copyright holder, etc. Technically speaking, though I am no lawyer, it doesn't appear to count "hey we can't buy this in a store" as a reasonable search.

more info overall, including the 2008 update to the same act; not much different

e: I forgot to note that I agree with you that it's much easier, on all sides, to recognize that people like older software and to release it in some fashion, either as a free download [hey, some companies are doing this -- see our C&C discussion, Sim City, etc.] or, like you suggested, for some nominal fee. The legal fees and unnecessary trouble of going through the rig-amoral is likely one of the reasons abandonware sites don't get bugged too much, especially when the original software company doesn't exist any more.

02-22-2010, 07:07 PM	#8
synkr0nized synk-ism Join Date: Nov 2003 Location: throughout the Wired Posts: 6,861	words, words, words Oh, this is a good place for me to ask you, Blues, since I didn't want to tard up that other thread with this discussion. Do you have references - that aren't Abandonia's pages - that prove the legality of "abandonware"? I found none today when I went poking about, and most of what I came across affirmed the illegality of it regardless of the very positive and good intentions of the people running such sites. I ask this not to argue with you, but because I really want to know what legal standing these sites are sitting on. I saw provisions for public/library archives and free reign for software that has fallen out of copyright, but for most software it appears that the copyright should still be protecting it. Not being able to purchase something and/or lack of action on the part of the copyright holders wasn't meant to be construed as a green light to go. Here's some stuff I came across: Gamespot article that interviews game developers, abandonware site owners, and some gamers US copyright law allows an exemption for places, such as the Internet Archive [who pushed for this], to have non-infringing uses of such software to be able to preserve software without the copy protection schemes it may have once had (eg: requiring a dongle to be attached to the machine, obsolete source media). This is not claiming it is OK for users to download free copies of the software. On the other hand, the Orphan Works Act of 2006 seems to provide provisions for "infringers" to be fine if they conduct a "reasonable search" for the correct information and original copyright holder, etc. Technically speaking, though I am no lawyer, it doesn't appear to count "hey we can't buy this in a store" as a reasonable search. more info overall, including the 2008 update to the same act; not much different e: I forgot to note that I agree with you that it's much easier, on all sides, to recognize that people like older software and to release it in some fashion, either as a free download [hey, some companies are doing this -- see our C&C discussion, Sim City, etc.] or, like you suggested, for some nominal fee. The legal fees and unnecessary trouble of going through the rig-amoral is likely one of the reasons abandonware sites don't get bugged too much, especially when the original software company doesn't exist any more. __________________ Find love. Last edited by synkr0nized; 02-22-2010 at 07:14 PM.