Author: Mike Byrne
Date: 18:56:51 06/04/03
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On June 04, 2003 at 14:42:00, Alastair Scott wrote: >On June 03, 2003 at 20:56:08, Mike Byrne wrote: > >>circa early 1990's /late 80's ...I want to give it a try on MAC emulator running >>on a PC ...I tried Richard Lang and he does not have a copy. > >What is the legal situation regarding all this? > >In my reading: the copyright is decades away from expiring and Psion presumably >still holds it unless it has been transferred. Psion still exists, but has moved >towards data communications products and has not produced PC software, apart >from drivers, for years. > >So, it would seem, Psion could, in principle, demand it were removed and pursue >the site owner if Psion Chess were made available from a Web site without >permission, but would be unlikely to do so as the package appears to have lost >all monetary value through neglect. > >The whole issue of "abandonware" appears to expose a lot of gaps in law; at >least the GPL is explicit about it (if you cannot maintain the package you own >you are obliged to find someone who will). > >Alastair I'm not sure, but there is case law that has copyrighted material that is neglected and abandoned - it can fall into the public domain. Some past situations have included old radio shows recorded in the past that were neglected for many years. The issue not clear by case is the the definion of what constitutes abandonment. Is it a statement by the holders or gross neglect? Cases have been ruled differently depending on the circumstances. A simple request by a copyright holder for the material to be removed will usually suffice to indicate non abandonment. Microsoft and Apple have both aggressively enforced their copyrights on old and outdated OS system software to retain their copyrights. They are not being mean, they are simply protecting their property. A few years ago, there were many sites with older versions of MAC OS software. Not anymore. In any event, I do have PSION for the MAC running under WIN2K within an Apple Emulator. MAC Psion is one of the great software programs ever written in the sense that is ran on Apple OS vintage 1984/1985 (3 or 4) right through OS 9 (2000/2001). If anybody would like to see a screenshot - let me know. Michael
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