"Abandonware" and copyright [was Re: WinWorld]

[ethan at 757.org]

> (As as side-note, it's of interest that arcade and home video game console
> ROMs, from roughly the same era, don't seem to fall into the abandonware
> class.. at least not so far as I have seen. Is this because the copyright
> holders are most often large, visible corporations? Perhaps, but it's also
> clear that the rights to a number of canonical abandonware titles, such as
> the Lucas Arts "SCUMM" point-and-click series, are likewise held by extant
> corporate concerns..)

It's because the authors of the old games can keep reselling the same 
stuff every time a new platform comes out. Windows versions, mobile phone 
versions, etc. Or at least the corporations that own the titles do.

There are still issues with ownership though.


--
Ethan O'Toole