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Those who distribute abandonware are unlikely to end up in court, so long as they comply with any cease-and-desist notices. Similarly, on titles they do care about, like the Ultima series, you no longer find those on abandonware sites (see the section below on Good Old Games for further explanation).īecause of the obstacles laid out above, abandonware appears relatively safe from a legal standpoint. But what would be the point? Legal action could turn into a public relations disaster.
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Electronic Arts have the legal resources to remove every free copy of System Shock on the market. Once a game is released in this way, it can't be reclaimed-but the developer might still hold copyright on new or altered versions of the game.Īnother reason for the lack of legal precedent may be a desire for goodwill. Though rare, several games have been released under General Public License, Creative Commons, and other publicly available licenses.
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Of course, if a developer releases software for free, the story is different. For example, abandonware site Home of the Underdogs was founded in Thailand, while Abandonia is based in Sweden. Those abandonware sites that continue to offer every abandonware title imaginable skirt international law, using hosting services in countries with a relaxed approach to piracy, copyright enforcement, and so on. There is little use in taking a publisher to court. When that happens, the abandonware site takes down the offending title in response. Companies enforcing existing copyright tend to send a cease-and-desist letter before filing a lawsuit. At least, none that I could find prosecuting someone for downloading and playing an abandonware title. But are you likely to find the authorities knocking at your door? Or, end up in front of a judge for breaking copyright? That's highly unlikely.ĭespite the illegality of abandonware, there are no court cases relating to it.
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To answer that specific question, no, it is not legal to download abandonware. For example, you can find classic action-adventure game, System Shock, on heaps of abandonware sites, yet the current copyright holder, Electronic Arts, does nothing about it. In other cases, the owner still exists but does not enforce the existing copyright. The majority of content on abandonware sites no longer have an owner to enforce the copyright actively, so no one can sue.
Herein is why although abandonware is illegal, it straddles a delicate gray enforcement area. How, then, do sites like Abandonia stay up and running? Surely there is a constant stream of litigation landing on their digital doormat? Like most laws, punishment only occurs if you get caught-and the opposing side is willing and able to make the charge stick. Typically, the copyright on a video game will last at least 70 years, and up to 125 years. The copyright on the work exists until the copyright expires, the duration of which varies from country to country. Even if the creator abandons a copyrighted work, it does not become public property automatically. The simple answer is no, abandonware is not legal.