Original post by FableFox
some games are "legally" abandoned.

... and the 'abandoned' permission might lost in the sea of internet informations./quote]Not at all.

The proper term for it is "orphaned works".

Under current international law, copyrights and other author's rights cannot be abandoned in that way.

Currently all major nations and WIPO do not allow exceptions for orphaned works.

Every creative work is owned by the author, including the fake viagra spam email, tag lines, anonymous blog spam, and abandoned games.

They continue to be owned by unspecified (and perhaps unknowable) authors or rights-holder. It doesn't matter if they become popular, or get copied into thousands of blogs, or show up on popular youtube videos. Somebdoy somewhere owns those rights of authorship.

Their rights are not surrendered just because the author cannot be found. If the author turns up a few years from now and demands that their rights are enforced, there is a good chance the courts will agree with them.


There have been discussions at international levels for several years about how to fix the problem of orphaned works. Perhaps someday they will be a process to move orphaned works into the public domain, but it hasn't happened yet.

Until that happens, copyright and other authorship rights cannot be 'abandoned'.



The work must be explicitly placed into the public domain, or the copyright holder must grant distribution rights by license or sale. Any other unauthroized distribution is unlawful. Period.

Just because the copyright holders cannot be found does not place it in the public domain. Just because you probably won't be sued does not place it in the public domain. Just because nobody in the entire world will care if you use it does not place it in the public domain. The only way it enters the public domain before the rights expire (several decades) is if the author explicitly releases it.

Any unauthorized distribution or other misappropriation is a violation of the law, and can legitimately be taken to civil court.

That is one reason why smart businesses do not touch abandoned works.

Hey, this looks pretty cool. I wasn't really around to play these games anyone want to suggest some good ones. I recognize a few classics like Monkey Island and Scorched Earth but most seemed unfamiliar. Any help would be great!

Sorry, there is a reason why I give out Abuse as an example. But after I checked into Wikipedia, I found out that it was released into public domain. I guess I don't really understand why I read from their site back then. AFAIK, they don't care what you do with it, or even profit from it, just credit them. I know, because back then I plan to use Golgotha music track.

My point is there are games where the author did give permission of 'i don't care', including making ports and remakes. Which is more than just freeware (like C&C, Alien Carnage). But not actually 'public domain', where you can pass the work as yours, etc. This is the real abandoned ware. Of course, not all 'abandonware' at abandonware sites are really abandoneware, but some if it is.

Anyway, on the topic, I used to contact Broderbund in order to create Win23, mouse & menu based version of The Dark Heart of Uukrul. Didn't get the permission. It would be awesome not having to type the spell and prayers.

Oh well.

Hi guys. I'm the webmaster at Classic DOS Games.

Frob and other posters are right that abandonware usually refers to games where the copyright holder is ambiguous, or where the company is defunct, or where the game hasn't been sold in a long time. In all of those cases, the copyright still belongs to someone, which makes distributing abandonware illegal.

When I talk about games where the copyright holder has "officially" abandoned their rights to the game, I mean exactly that. Apogee officially abandoned their rights to Trek Triva, TNG Trivia and Jumpman Lives! to avoid legal problems with Paramount and Epyx. Arcade Volleyball appeared as source code in the June 1988 edition of Compute!'s Gazette (Issue 60, Vol. 6, No. 6), and the author contacted me and told me that he was declaring the game public domain. Those four games are officially in the public domain. I could (and do) refer to them as public domain, but people are usually more familiar with the term abandonware. Besides which, I'm taking the opportunity to change the definition of abandonware in the hope that it will lead people to respect the copyright on what I call "illegal abandonware".

Anyway, everything on the website is 100% legal.