POLL: legalize Abandonware?

[gorcorps]

Personally I think anything 20 years or older should be public domain and free to distribute over the Internet. The fact that nearly century old things like Snow White and the 7 Dwarves are still under copyright protection is an abomination of what copyright law was supposed to do for consumers. Namely provide for copyrighted works to make their money for a set period of time, and then let that work enter the public domain for all of humanity to enjoy at some point at no cost.

If you're willing to wait 20 years, you ought to get to enjoy something for free. If you don't want to wait 20 years, then you'll buy it to enjoy it while it's still fresh.

You're mixing up your IPs. Copyrights aren't intended for a temporary means of making money, those are PATENTS. Copyrights and patents have very different laws, costs, and ways of enforcing. Copyrights are supposed to be used to protect an expression of original work from an author. Originally intended for art, music, film and such... It's been stretched to the limits to include some software.

Educate yourselves folks. People throw around terms without knowing the first clue what they mean. http://www.lawmart.com/forms/difference.htm

 

[GodlessAstronomer]

Funny how people who never create a lick of content think that the content OTHER PEOPLE create should be theirs for nothing.

 

[acheron]

I say all warez should be legalized, but that's a whole other topic. Yes abandonware should be legalized, there's no reason to enforce it. For example nintendo emulators and such should be legal. Who today, would actually go out and buy a nes and super mario for example? Can you even buy it? lol (not counting 2nd hand)

Uh, yes. Perhaps you've heard of a thing called the "Wii". You can pay 5 bucks and download the original Super Mario Bros as well as hundreds of other old games.

Of course, I'm not sure there's any point in reasoning with someone who says all software should be free.

 

[mmntech]

Funny how people who never create a lick of content think that the content OTHER PEOPLE create should be theirs for nothing.

All my content is available for free. Check out the Video Thread. Not that anyone would pay for it though.

My take on abandonware is things should be left as it is. Provided the game is no longer being sold on retail, it's not hurting anyone. If the game does go back on the market, then there's a problem.

I wouldn't mind paying for updated compilations though provided the price is good. (ie not $10 for a game from the 80s! I'm looking at you Nintendo) I think LucasArts has the right idea with releasing their old games on Steam. A lot of older games don't work properly on newer operating systems. Namely games with 16-bit installers on a 64-bit OS, or pre-OS X games for Mac that don't work at all.

 

[PhatoseAlpha]

There's is precisely no need to make any changes to the law.

Services such a Xbox live Arcade, the PS Store, Wii-Ware, GoodOldGames.com and Steam show that there is still a value in older titles, that they can continue to be sold, and thus maintained, by the companies that produced them. This serves to the benefit of producer and consumer.

In the few cases where an 'abandonware' title actually is abandoned, not just sufficiently old by whatever arbitrary metric is being used, existing law also work. The police don't enforce these things, so removal can only be accomplished by the actual holder of the IP. If the game is truly abandoned, this will never ever happen.

 

[Jadow]

I have no guilt playing a ton of old games on DosBox. I used to own the games and paid for them at one time, the floppies have since turned to dust, but I still bought a copy so I'm gonna play them.

 

[coloumb]

Wow - this topic derailed pretty fast eh?

Should "abandonware" be free? Well..it pretty much already is by a simple google search.

Well..if the company is still in business or author is still alive [and owns rights to the game] - then I'd say the decision is theirs.

You could easily rework them to run quite well on a cell phone and sell the game for a small profit - so this is probably why most abandonware isn't "Free".

 

[Craig234]

I wouldn't mind something requiring the games to be available - we pass laws making beaches and national parks available - but not for free.

 

[WildW]

Sometimes I think something along the lines of "If it isn't available to buy, you should be allowed it for free."

I mean. . . what's the point in any content, be it game, movie, music, book, if you can't get it. It would encourage content owners to make things available. Once upon a time it would've been impractical, but with digital distribution mediums it shouldn't be that difficult given time to get established. It's not like you'd have to create physical media for everything.

I would note that I haven't thought this through, at all. Perhaps some time limits would need to elapse between availablility and freeness. Various caveats and loopholes for situations I haven't considered. But in general principle. . .

No, it would never work.

 

[Sureshot324]

I say all warez should be legalized, but that's a whole other topic. Yes abandonware should be legalized, there's no reason to enforce it. For example nintendo emulators and such should be legal. Who today, would actually go out and buy a nes and super mario for example? Can you even buy it? lol (not counting 2nd hand)

No but you can buy a Wii and get it via virtual console. I agree though that there should be a cut off of royalties after a certain number of years. 10-20 is about right IMO. If companies want to make money, they should have to produce something that consumers want, not sit on their ass and collect royalty checks.