[game_preservation] Abandonware

[Jim Leonard]

Greg Boyd wrote:

> 2.  The rights holder has to know about it (unlikely in abandonware).


My abandonware site was the first ever to receive a cease and desist 
notice (from the IDSA, as they were known back then).  That was in 1997, 
so I would assume they definitely know about it.


> 3.  The rights holder has to be upset about it.  (often they don't care 

> or are happy that someone cares enough to archive a game).


This is definitely not the case for Nintendo or EA, I have seen them go 
after even the slightest infringement (aka ROMs).


> I am NOT saying this is 100% OK, but I am saying that rational behavior 

> and imperfect knowledge makes the risk of this turning into a real legal 

> problem for a non-profit legitimate archiver usually pretty low. 


I agree, which is why I never had any pretenses starting the abandonware 
movement.  Sending out a C&D letter is cheap, but after that, like you 
said it's from $4K to $50K to take it to the next step and most 
abandonware infringement doesn't warrant that kind of cost.
-- 
Jim Leonard (trixter at oldskool.org)            http://www.oldskool.org/
Help our electronic games project:           http://www.mobygames.com/
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