Re: Abandonware petition

[cturley2@aol.com (Cturley2)]

 Frank Townsend wrote in his reply: << According to section 1204, no criminal
penalties attach unless the purpose is "commercial advantage or private
financial gain."  There can still be civil liability if the copyright holder
injured decides to sue, etc. etc. >>

Thanks for the info.  With respect to Copy II Plus archives and most all of the
other 'A2 LOST AND FOUND CLASSICS'  (such as the SoftDisk GS issues) - I intend
making available in Apple II ShrinkIt archives and Mac Disk Copy 4.2 image
files from the folder:

http://www.apple2.net/gswv/A2.LOST.N.FOUND.CLASSICS/

...It seems after reading and interpreting the contents of 'section 1204' the
only possible action that can be taken would be civil liability if the
copyright holder claims injury and decides to sue.  

By making such Apple II abandonware titles available from the above noted URL
and folder I can't see how it would cause any copyright holder any injury in
any way.  

After all - the archives of the abandonware titles are being made available
simply to preserve their work and efforts for other Apple II users to share and
enjoy with their Apple II computers and Apple II emulators.  And, of course -
any titles still offered for commercial sales by their owners and authorized
retail distributors would NEVER be made available as such from that folder.

Should any copyright holder of any of the 1000's of Apple II abandonware titles
decide to take civil action -- such legal action would be an interesting case -
that I'd look forward to being a party to.  Making such Apple II titled
archived for public online access and downloads labeled as abandonware would
make a very interesting civil liability legal test case.

But, my being an individual with NO assets to take - such actions would most
likely be dismissed by the court before ever going to trial.  It seems that
some 
copyright law sections actually do work in favor of the needs of Apple II users
online today - after all :)

Cheers,
Tom