Archived from groups: comp.sys.ibm.pc.games.action (
More info?)
Walter Mitty wrote:
> Paul Moloney wrote:
> >>Well : I never knew that. I thought it was : hence the site is still there
> >>and operating with none of the usual warez issues.
> >
> >
> > Their policy is to only host games which are (a) out of print, (b) not
> > in stock by any retailer or resellers and (c) haven't been requested
> > to be taken down by the copyright holder. This includes lots of games
> > for which the company went out of business and there is no left to
> > defend the copyright, plus of course those who can't see the point.
> >
> > More here:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Abandonware
> >
>
> I thought this was the case : I dont believe its strictly illegal
> because no one owns the rights anymore and cant be assed to harvest
> pennies from ancient halcyon days gamers.
Copyright doesn't cease to protect the game just because it's not being
sold any longer. It's still just as illegal to download abandonware
games as it is to download the latest and greatest warez. The only
difference is, no one is likely to CARE about it. One could argue that
the moral implications of downloading a game you can't buy in a store
anymore anyway are different than downloading a fresh new title just
because you're too cheap or lazy to go down to the store. But morals
don't mean dick regarding the legality of it. Basically, if you don't
want to break the law, do not download abandonware. If breaking the law
doesn't bother you, do what you want.
Knight37