[Coco] legal to copy coco software ?

[Roger Taylor]

At 08:25 PM 12/26/2006, you wrote:
>While it's not technically legal to copy and exchange "orphaned" 
>software, there's no reason not to. As long as no one is 
>complaining, and there is no legal way to get the software, I 
>personally have no problem with it. That's why I released all the 
>stuff I had rights to to the public domain several years after it 
>was no longer feasible to market it. I wish others would have the 
>foresight to do so rather then force the "survivors" who still like 
>to use/play with the CoCo (nad other old computers) to contemplate such things.
>
>The issue really becomes a legal technicality and a moral issue as 
>long as no one complains. Even if an author didn't want their work 
>copied, all they can really do is have a "cease and desist" order 
>given. They COULD sue, but would have to pay a lawyer to do so. They 
>CAN'T sue for damages unless they can prove a loss in some form. 
>Since there are no loses, especially not enough to pay court bills, 
>there's little chance of being sued -- although there is still a 
>small chance. I suppose a judge could fine you anyway, but if a 
>complaintant can't prove any damages, I don't think a judge would 
>fine anyone -- maybe order to pay court costs and discontinue. But 
>stranger things have happened in US courts.
>
>Copy among yourselves and share software. I don't think there will 
>be any problems.


Who would have known that the ancient Pac-Man game, and a handful of 
other vintage popular Atari-type games would resurface in 200x into 
those self-contained plug-n-play joystick units.  I wonder how many 
vintage title owners are reserving their rights for decades the same 
in hopes of bringing them back to life in a similar way?

I don't think the CoCo actually had many titles that weren't 
knock-offs of already-popular titles that were available across 
platforms.  I'd worry about those before anything else since they're 
not owned by an individual programmer who has probably forgotten what 
a CoCo is or that a community still exists.

I dunno.


-- 
Roger Taylor