Re: Appleworks v5

[Sheldon Simms <sheldonsimms@yahoo.com>]

On Sat, 30 Aug 2003 05:47:13 +0000, M. Pender wrote:

> Dosius <steve@dosius.zzn.com> wrote in message
> 9307085f.0308260744.15c72039@posting.google.com">news:9307085f.0308260744.15c72039@posting.google.com...
>> "M. Pender" <mpender@hotmail.com> wrote in message
> news:<Mjx2b.6884$Jq1.5712@nwrddc03.gnilink.net>...
>> > Does anyone know if they are actually 'pirate' software?  I thought they
>> > were just abandonware--they certainly don't have any of the usual
>> > indications of pirateware.
>> >
>> > Thanks,
>> >
>> > - Mike
>>
>> Abandonware is pirateware ;)
> 
> Uh, no.  A person cannot 'steal' something that has been abandoned.

Copyright infringement is not stealing, whether the infringed work
is abandoned or not. 'Pirating' of software refers to copyright
infringement. There is no doubt that unauthorized copying of
abandoned software is copyright infringement.

The important point is that the copyright holder doesn't care that
the copyright is being infringed*, so there is no barrier to going
ahead and making copies.

-Sheldon

*I would assume that if someone could come up with a way to make
money using infringing copies of old, abandoned Apple II software,
then the copyright holders might suddenly begin to care, however
the prospect of such a thing actually being possible seems unlikely
to me.