Abandonware refers to software that is no longer sold or supported, including older video games. A community has developed to preserve and support abandoned software, but downloading without proper licenses is copyright infringement. Most abandoned software remains under copyright, and some websites have been shut down due to legal notices. Despite legal troubles, abandonment sites continue to exist, and some abandoned programs are orphan works without a clear owner.
Abandonware is computer software that has actually been discarded by its creator or distributor. The term usually describes older video games, but can apply to any type of software that is no longer sold or supported. Since the late 1990s, a community dedicated to preserving and supporting abandoned software has developed, and hundreds of websites offer free downloads of old games and programs. Most abandonware, however, is not in the public domain, so downloading and installing these programs without the proper software licenses is technically copyright infringement in most countries. In practice, most rights holders rarely put the effort into it
Computer software is a rapidly evolving industry, and companies that develop, sell, and support software are under constant pressure to improve their products. This means that most software has a very limited commercial viability window. Video games, for example, usually don’t generate much revenue after about three years. As a result, many games and programs that were once very popular are not even legally available today. While they may not appeal to large audiences, a small group of people driven by nostalgia or curiosity actively seek out these old shows.
Abandoned websites started cropping up in the late 1990s. Today, there are hundreds of such sites offering free downloads of old games, outdated applications, and outdated operating systems. The creators of many of these sites claim that their primary purpose is to preserve software that might otherwise be gone forever. The games and programs found on abandon sites are usually not available from their original publisher and in many cases cannot be obtained through other means.
The copyright on a game or software title doesn’t expire, however, simply because the product is out of date. While some rights holders have released their obsolete software into the public domain, most abandoned software remains under copyright. The Interactive Digital Software Association (ISDA), a trade group representing software companies, has taken a stand against the practice of abandonware distribution, arguing that while it may not harm publishers financially, it deprives them of the right to control their intellectual property. Downloading copyrighted software without permission is copyright infringement, regardless of the retail availability of the product. Some websites have been shut down after receiving legal notices from the ISDA or other groups.
Despite the legal troubles, abandonment sites continue to exist. Many site operators have avoided the wrath of the ISDA and others by removing content when required or when publishers re-release older titles. Most copyright holders have limited resources to combat piracy in general, and as a result spend most of their energy fighting unauthorized distribution of their current products. Some abandoned programs are also “orphan works”: copyrighted material without a clear owner. US copyright law, for example, has no provision to deal with orphan works, so these applications cannot legally be sold or distributed even if there is a market for them.
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