[Coco] ROM Copyrights... copyrights in general...

[Salvador Garcia]

Inline...

      From: Bill Pierce via Coco <coco at maltedmedia.com>
 To: coco at maltedmedia.com 
Cc: Bill Pierce <ooogalapasooo at aol.com>
 Sent: Wednesday, June 7, 2017 8:26 PM
 Subject: Re: [Coco] ROM Copyrights... copyrights in general...
   
Something no one has yet to mention or clarify (Dennis?)...
I've always "heard" that if you own the original roms, you have the right to make copies for your own personal use... I have no clue if this is true. I know it did apply to making tape and CD copies of albums I own, but ONLY for personal use.

***Ever since I've belonged to this community, I've noticed how people are careful to distribute the ROM only to people who already own them While this does not constitute law, it does offer a view on the perspective on how the copyright of the ROMs is handled, albeit informally.***


"IF" this is true, then many of us have the legal right to have and use copies of the roms (no, this doesn't cover uploading/downloading "illegal" copies).
Personally, I own all versions of CB, ECB, DECB, & SECB. I even have copies of CB & ECB (1.01?) on RS cassette tape (factory labeled, and bought from RS as an upgrade).

 ***I own a 64K Color Computer 1 with a Radio Shack floppy disk drive, plus a non functional CoCo 3. That should cover ownership of all the BASIC versions given above. Alternatively, I could have purchased the original ROM, without any other hardware and be able to claim legal ownership of the original BASIC ROM software. And by "ownership" I am referring to the license to use the s/w, not that I own the software itself.***

 **The problem lies with people that don't own original hardware. As a possible precedent, I look to the Unraveled Series of books. These present in-depth information about the ROMs that could be considered proprietary. If MS/Tandy did not come after the authors, it is doubtful that it will go after people that have "illicit" copies of the ROMs. Still, ideally, it would be fantastic to have MS' blessing for the preservation of a bygone technology. Salvador ***

Bill Pierce
"Charlie stole the handle, and the train it won't stop going, no way to slow down!" - Ian Anderson - Jethro Tull

My Music from the Tandy/Radio Shack Color Computer 2 & 3
https://sites.google.com/site/dabarnstudio/
Co-Contributor, Co-Editor for CocoPedia
http://www.cocopedia.com/wiki/index.php/Main_Page

E-Mail: ooogalapasooo at aol.com

 



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