4 ms·
> This does not mean these titles can be redistributed, only that they can be modified for the sake of preservation. But once the copyright expires on the disk
by jxcl 11y ago
> This does not mean these titles can be redistributed, only that they can be modified for the sake of preservation.
But once the copyright expires on the disks, they may then be redistributed?
- VonGuard 11y agoThen they would enter public domain. Copyright, however, lasts a very, very long time. Longer than the history of computing.
- gknoy 11y agoIt sounds like archivists could image the disks and transport those across mediums, in the interest of archival, as long as they didn't distribute them, though. Am I mistaken?
- VonGuard 11y agoYou are correct. We can now do just about anything we want short of redistribution or commercialization.
- jellicle 11y agoNearly nothing has entered the public domain in the U.S. in decades, and likely nearly nothing ever will again.
- VonGuard 11y agoThere was that time in the 70's when you had to re-up your Copyright, and a lot of stuff fell out, like Night of the Living Dead.
- wtallis 11y agoNight of the Living Dead failed to ever have copyright protection due to lack of a copyright notice or registration, not from a need for renewal. Renewal became automatic in 1964, and registration or notice became optional in 1989. (And in 1976 it became possible to register for up to 5 years after publication, to allow for fixing mistakes like with Night of the Living Dead.)
- PeterisP 11y agoTheoretically yes, but I don't really expect to see copyright on any, even the oldest, software expiring during my lifetime.