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[Sebatianos]

The law is a very strict thing and it differs depending on a country that wrote it. Even international law. Let's say the US - they had a law (it's under a big question mark after 9/11) that their secret agencies must not spy on american citisents (but were alowed to spy on foreigners). I'm sure that let's say in Germany there was a law protecting you from being spyed upon (even by american agents).

So the law is many times very uncertain and aplicable only to the countries that have that law. But the basic idea is similar everywhere.

Laws themselves are made to prevent people to hurt each other and enabeling them to live in peaceful co-existence.

And now to make a few arguments:
1
-Piracy is causing companies to lose money so it's prohibited because of the thet of their intelectual property!
-A company is only making money its intelectual property if it's selling it.
-Once a company stops selling a product they are not making any profit of it.
-Abandonware games are not sold by their owners any more - so we're not hurting anyone - hence it's not piracy.
2
-Taxes are collected based on the income.
-Piracy is also prohibited because a pirate is gaining money by selling illeagal goods.
-Abandonware is for free - we are not a profitable organisation - so we're not doing any piracy!
3
-Intelectual property is a very importaint thing. It means that the person who created something has the right to it.
-Breaking the intelectual property would be making new games based on the charactored that are a trademark (if someone would let's say make a sequel to Sam'n'Max).
-Also it would go against respecting the intelectual property if we'd not give the necesary credit to the people who made the game (let's say we'd erase the credits and no-one would see who made the game) - or would claim we made it ourselves.
-Abandonia isn't doing any of this - so we're not doing anything illegal.

Abandonware is not illegal - at least not by the general laws - unless someone abuses the points I made above. Offcourse we will respect the wishes of companies if they say we should take some games off line - and we'll be on the lookout for any law changes. If a new law comes - maybe we'll have to shut down - or maybe we'll be given an award for doing an excelent service (but the time still hasn't come).

[The Niles]

There is no single answer I can give you. It depends first and foremost on where you live. If you live in the Netherlands like I do then downloading is not illegal but offering the games for download (like we of abandonia are doing ) is illegal. This is different in other countries. You will have to look up the laws of your specific country in order to answer your question.
I wouldn't worry to much about it though. No one has been charged with downloading abandon-ware from the internet (as far as I know), unlike say, downloading music.

Some background information on abandon-ware:

Abandon-ware is not a legal term and to the letter of the law (basically any law) what we are doing is not legal. However there is a difference in what we do and what say a warez site does. We offer very old games for download and not any of the newest games. The games available on abandonia are no longer sold so no-one is losing money from what we do. Before we put games on the site we do a thorough search to make sure that the game in question is,

- more then 5 years old
- no longer sold by the company who made it
- no longer sold by any other company who legally hold the rights to the game in question

Once, and only once, these questions have been satisfactorily answered do we put a game online.
This does not make what we do legal. It does mean we take what we do seriously and the rules we hold outselves to are serious rules.

If you want to know more about this then read the articles behind this link, and search around the web for more information.

http://www.abandonwarering.com/?Page=FAQ

[Caged]

meh, seems as long as the makers don't give a crap anymore, there should be nothing wrong with it...

[Braindead]

Originally posted by einherjar@Nov 23 2004, 12:03 AM
People have told me that downloading abandonware is illegal. Is it?

Well actually there's no question about it. It is illegal as long as the copyright hasn't been passed for 50 years. (or was it 75? Hmmm...)
So if you have a game from 1954 you can distribute it freely, otherwise it's copyright infringement towards the legal owner of copyright.

[The Niles]

It's not illegal in every country. You should look at your local laws to find out if it is illegal.

[evilded]

Jaywalking is illegal too, but police are not going to arrest you for it. I think that even if it is technically illegal, some companies don't really care.

Unfortunatly for us Daggerfall lovers, Bethesda sofware isn't one of these companies... :not_ok:

[Eagle of Fire]

Do you mean some country doesn't claim the right to the copyright laws in their country or some very open minded country made Abadonware legal???

[Rogue]

IT IS ILLEGAL, and all of you'll go to jail!!!! :twisted: :bleh: :w00t:

[The Niles]

Originally posted by Eagle of Fire@Nov 24 2004, 03:28 AM
Do you mean some country doesn't claim the right to the copyright laws in their country or some very open minded country made Abadonware legal???

No, in some countries however downloading copyrighted material is not illegal. Offering those material for download (like abandonia is doing) is still illegal.

[mouse31e]

Originally posted by Eagle of Fire@Nov 24 2004, 03:28 AM
Do you mean some country doesn't claim the right to the copyright laws in their country or some very open minded country made Abadonware legal???

I think, though I'm not totally sure, that it is the copyright laws of the country from which the game comes that apply so if a game is made in the USA, their copyright laws apply and if it comes from the UK those laws apply!