[Coco] Legal to put ALL Coco software (and other obsolete micros) up for download?

[Robert Gault]

Dennis Bathory-Kitsz wrote:
> At 11:20 AM 12/1/06 -0600, L. Curtis Boyle wrote:
> 
>>When it says "other libraries", would some of our preservation websites  
>>(for any obsolete computer) be considered as such? The complete text in  
>>PDF form is available here:
>>http://www.copyright.gov/1201/docs/1201_recommendation.pdf
> 
> 
> That's what I get for reading summaries. It looks like you are right.  
> This is effective immediately and runs for only three years (extending
> a previous rule).
> 
> This is a rulemaking decision, essentially modifying this:
> http://www.washingtonwatchdog.org/documents/cfr/title37/part201.html
> to interpret the US code section 1201:
> (http://www4.law.cornell.edu/uscode/html/uscode17/usc_sec_17_00001201----000-.html)
> 
> Worth reading, by the way -- both the rulemaking and its logic, and the 
> original copyright law.
> 
> Dennis
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 

Dennis and Curtis,

I make no claims to legal expertize, but specifically regards Coco 
software I would say no copyrights should be affected by this 
recommendation. Here is why.

"Computer programs and video games distributed in formats that have 
become obsolete and that require the original media or hardware as a 
condition of access, when circumvention is accomplished for the purpose 
of preservation or archival reproduction of published digital works by a 
library or archive."

  The critical section of the above is "require the original media or 
hardware as a condition of access" and as we all know, emulators (of 
which we have several) bypass the need for both the original media or 
hardware.
  This issue was in fact considered. "In its comments and testimony, the
Archive questions whether the emulation of obsolete operating systems or 
hardware operates as a technological measure that protects access to the 
work sought to be accessed, yet in the face of uncertainty, it requests 
an exemption that would provide certainty in its archival endeavors."
  There is a 201.40 amendment which includes: "A format shall be 
considered obsolete if the machine or system necessary to render 
perceptible a work stored in that format is no longer manufactured or is 
no longer reasonably available in the commercial marketplace." Again, as 
the Coco emulators are readily available, and free, Coco software should 
not be covered by this recommendation.

  I'd bet that if any company thought it worth the trouble to challenge 
this recommendation over Coco or 6809/6309 software. The recommendation 
would fail. We are just lucky that neither Tandy nor Microware care.
  It would be easy to argue that with emulators such as MESS, Coco 
software has achieved new life. There could easily be more users now of 
this Coco software than there were when one could buy a Coco from Tandy.