Ancient wares and present values

[Rubywand <rubywand@swbell.net>]

Frank Townsend writes ...
>
> Flaymerz wrote in message <200006260345.XAA10159@anon.cotse.com>...
> 
> >If I want to play with Crossword Magic 2.0 from 1981,
> >I'm surely not going to wait for it to show up on eBay or
> >post a wanted-to-buy ad here.  I'll download it.  L&S
> >Computerware -- the entity being protected by copyright
> >-- would not suffer any financial loss by my
> >downloading it because they haven't been in business
> >for YEARS.
> 
> Interestingly enough L&S Computerware is, in a sense, still in business.
> 
> L&S was a trade name of HLS Duplication, Inc.  In 1995,
> HLS was acquired by, and made a subsidiary of,
> Nimbus Manufacturing Inc.  The subsidiary was
> known as Nimbus Software Services until 1997 when Nimbus Mfg. closed the
> plant in Sunnyvale, Ca.
> 
> Thus, unless the copyright was otherwise sold or transferred, the current
> copyright holder of Crossword Magic 2.0 is Nimbus Manufacturing Inc.,
> very much a going concern.
> 
> Ironically, Nimbus has developed anti piracy tools, and apparently has a
> deep interest in copyright issues..
> 
> You can call the company's US offices at
> 
> NIMBUS MANUFACTURING INC
> Ruckersville, VA 22968
> 
> 804 985 1100
> 

     Speaking of interesting observations, you might consider how you came to
discover Nimbus (and post a Nimbus mini-commercial on the world's largest
Apple II forum). It was through an interest in a 1981 Apple II product.

     Obviously, the game itself has zero commercial value. At the price it
could be sold, the costs of dealing with any orders or shareware fees would
far exceed the revenues from sales.

     Suppose the rights owner should request free access to end. The standard
practice of the archives would be to delist Crossword Magic 2.0.

     Once the product were delisted it would, at last, be just about totally
worthless to the rights owner. Commercial value would still be zero and there
would be no opportunity for new users to download Crossword Magic 2.0 and
wonder about "L&S Computerware" and discover Nimbus and think about buying
Nimbus software.



Rubywand