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Classic Gaming - Arcade and Old School Gaming - Resources, Strategies, Walkthroughs and Fan Sites

Classic Gaming - Arcade and Old School Gaming - Resources, Strategies, Walkthroughs and Fan Sites

Definition of Abandonware

Abandonware - Software that is no longer being sold or supported by its publisher. Most abandonware is still considered illegal unless the publisher has re-released the software as freeware.

Copyright Laws

U.S. copyright laws state that copyrights owned by corporations are valid for 75 years from the date the software was first published. So the current availability of a product is irrelevant to its copyrighted status. Unlike trademarks, copyrights are not considered abandoned if they are no longer enforced. Copyrights do not enter the public domain just because they are no longer commercially exploited or widely available.

This Website's Policy

This website does NOT offer copyrighted software. If you feel this website is in violation of those laws, please contact us and we will remove the illegal material immediately. If you are a site user, please do not contact us with regard to obtaining illegal software (your queries will be ignored).

Our Beliefs

We believe the software is protected under U.S. copyright law - however, we disagree with this law. As is such, although we disagree with the laws, we will NOT violate the law.

No Longer Sold

As stated, we do not agree with current software copyright laws. Most companies, after a number of years, stop producing and distributing certain software. As time goes on, the software is no longer sold in stores or distrubuted to software outless (and eventually, even auction sites no longer have the software available). At such time, we believe the game should be declared "abandoned." If the software company does not care to offer the software for sale, the consumers deserve the right to download the software. The company doesn't lose/gain any money from this (see our comments below about selling abandonware).

Obsolete

To reenforce our beliefes, we believe that after about 10 years, software becomes obsolete. Old software is replaced by new software, and the old software is no longer produced/sold. Most software over 10 years old cannot even run on newer systems (without an emulator or revised program). This software eventually fades out of existence (as it isnt sold, not can it run on current computers). Without abandware websites, these pieces of software would be lost forever. Abandonware sites keep these pieces of software alive!!!

In Closing

We believe that "abandoned" software should be made available to the public, for either nostalgic purposes (entertainment), or for source code information (educational). In additon, We are of the belief that the current copyright laws should be modified when it pertains to software over 10-15 years old (at such a time, the software is said to be obsolete and usually is no longer sold).