>I'm just going to add here that, no matter what the copyright laws say, it
>is up to the copyright holder to protect it. If they don't, or choose not
>to... (IANAL)
I believe that's true of trademark, not copyright; trademark can fall
into public domain if it's not fairly zealously guarded (see: xerox or
asprin in common usage).
In those areas where copyright is infringed, it is up to the copyright
holder to protect their copyright to a reasonable degree. If they can
prove that they did not know of the infringement, and absent illegal
activities (such as software piracy) could not easily be made aware of
it, they could in theory sue you for all you're worth when they -are-
made aware of it. Fwiw.
This is sort of a silly discussion, though.
If I have a book that's out of print, and I choose to keep it, I'm going
to frown heavily on anyone who decides to liberate it by breaking into my
house. If I have a million dollars, and people are starving, I'm going
to frown heavily on people who do the same.
What we talk about when we talk about abandonware in certain terms is
piracy. The fact that it's a from-your-own-home crime makes it fairly
appealing because it's so clean it doesn't -feel- like shop-lifting.
I don't particularly care if this is something people want to pursue, but
I dislike the invention of noble purpose behind what is essentially
theft, as it is currently defined by law.
Now, laws -can- be changed. If the law itself is something that you have
a problem with -- if you feel that intellectual property is something
that -shouldn't- be owned, then I think there are all kids of other
avenues that can be pursued.
-- This is the Newtontalk mailinglist - http://www.newtontalk.net To unsubscribe or manage: visit the above link or mailto:newtontalk-request_at_newtontalk.net?Subject=unsubscribe
This archive was generated by hypermail 2.1.2 : Wed Oct 03 2001 - 12:01:22 EDT