KIM/MOS-Tech - test-drb@ccmp.vtda.org

2 Sep 1998

At 02:22 AM 9/2/98 -0700, Sam wrote:
...

Us.
(Caveat: until someone comes forward to claim legitimate ownership.) 
I wonder if there is legal precedent that might establish a reasonable
level of due diligence to determine that a copyright asset has indeed
been abandoned, and a legitimate method by which someone else could
be considered at least allowed to reproduce it but perhaps not claim
ownership of it.  In short, a process to follow that would establish
that something is on its way to becoming public domain.  Without
preservation now, the asset might be truly lost.

For example, I've contacted several authors of early computer books 
who've since tossed their floppies with the original manuscript.  
Without this, we're back to scanning and OCR and proofreading.  
They'd thought that absolutely no one was interested.  For example, 
Sheldon Leemon, author of "Mapping the C-64", tossed his old Atari 
floppies that had held his manuscript.

- John