|Poll| Is Abandonware Illegal? |Poll|

[Cyber Ghost]

Post your answer and maybe some comments! Lemme know what the majority think!

[486 player]

That's 3rd aw legalisize topic! Accordin' to law it's illegal but to fair not.

[Dogbreath]

Yes, it's illegal, and a poll wouldn't change that. Or are you asking if it should be illegal?

[Cyber Ghost]

I'm sorry I ment Should it Be Illegal Or Not. I'm I opinion I think that it should be but other friends of mine think other wise. Though I'd get an second opinion.

[wardrich]

it IS illegal, but it shouldn't be. The only people losing out are the fans that want to play the game(s) again. If the company no longer supports it, it should become public domain.

-Richard-

[dr_st]

Where the "Who cares?" option?

[CloudCobain]

I'm sorry I ment Should it Be Illegal Or Not.

Well that's annoying. I voted Yes, because it is. I don't really agree with that.

[486 player]

In public domain, there are NO COPYRIGHTS!

[CloudCobain]

Doesn't copyright work in a way that means, you can't take copyrighted material and use it in a way that makes money for you or exposes it to the public? So uh, if you're just playing some abandonware, why should that be illegal?

[Ro@m]

no no and no,it IS illegal!

[CloudCobain]

Hey, I never said it wasn't. I was just trying to make sense of it. Don't bite my head off.

[Dopefish]

My only solid view on copyright laws is that as soon as the artist/creator dies, the thing should become public domain. I hate the fact that Disney has bought courts to extend copyrights to last until 70 years after the artist dies.

Seriously, that's insane. With laws like that, Shakespeare wouldn't have been allowed to publish Romeo & Juliette (a rip-off of an Italian play).

[Unknown_K]

My only solid view on copyright laws is that as soon as the artist/creator dies, the thing should become public domain. I hate the fact that Disney has bought courts to extend copyrights to last until 70 years after the artist dies.

Seriously, that's insane. With laws like that, Shakespeare wouldn't have been allowed to publish Romeo & Juliette (a rip-off of an Italian play).

I am all for having a limited time for copyrights from the day published (say 20 years), so you can milk a good work for a while. Romeo and Juliet was not an exact copy of the italian play, so copyright would not affect it would it? Copyright just protects the name of the original work and its contents (in whole or in parts) from reproduction. If you take Harry Potter change the characters names and traits plus the storyline a bit you can publish it with no problems.

[x86_Game-Junkie]

Depends on the perspective you are coming from, most hardware & software companies who create/develop games and other software, drivers and hardware actually have policies on their software/hardware. What I mean in lamans terms is some software/hardware is supported and on the other hand some are unsupported. It's normally to do with technical support issues, such as installations, error messages and conflicts etc etc!!

Abandonware to my knowledge isn't illegal, but unsupported by the vendor, distributor and software company.

Detailed definition Click Here

[Red Sun]

It shouldn't be illegal, in my opinion. The company isn't selling the game anymore, so you aren't taking anything away from the profits of the company by downloading it.

[Unknown_K]

It shouldn't be illegal, in my opinion. The company isn't selling the game anymore, so you aren't taking anything away from the profits of the company by downloading it.

The company that owns it is not obligated to sell it in any way. Its like Disney releasing movies to video for a short time untill they are sold out and then re-releasing them at a much later date, they do it to build demand and so people think its a rare release.

[x86_Game-Junkie]

A discontinued product is a discontinued product!!

They make them discontinued because the software company who makes the software or game can't recommend their customers to purchase or download 3rd party software to run the software or game. They also make them discontinued because of newer software releases, the hiring and training of new staff including temporary agency staff and the rapid speed of ever-growing technologies!!

[Cakephatt]

[Eugene Esterly III]

Plains & simple, Abadonware is illegal because the companies haven't given permission for the games to be distrubuted. Distrubuting software without the copyright owners is illegal.

Even though old software isn't being sold, the companies who own the copyrights haven't given up their copyrights.

[alban lusitanae]

Well, IMHO, abandonware is a grey area and that's why I said no.
I explain.
Legally, yes, it is illegal, but so is shareware. If I release a full game as shareware and tell you to donate me something because you are playing it, and you don't, you are officially a thief, playing shareware.
So you see, it's a grey area.
The companies couldn't care less about old games. The problem is, when they sniff an opportunity due to a retroscene rise for their games, here comes all of them denying distribution and making CDs... that never sell. But do they learn? No. They keep people going for illegal situations because they don't understand that everything as a time period and a right time to play. Anything else (like the great idea, a few weeks ago from a ZX Spectrum company to release their games in CD after denying them to the retrogamers!!!!!) is absurd. Who would pay to play legend of kyrandia today? pay the normal price, that is: 49,95?

Yes abandonware may be an illegal concept, but I personally believe it's not hurting people that much. Even because there are free games all around us anyway...