Abandon-ware

[Gil]

I've been wondering lately about abandon-ware. Basically, if something like Mac OS 7.5 is considered abandon-ware, can you use it as a basis for a new product, without having to license it?

 

[II2II]

The simple answer: no.

The deeply nuanced answer: NO!

The concept of abandonware has absolutely no legal basis. It is basically an idea that a bunch of people came up with to legitimise software piracy for software that is no longer published since (a) the original developers and publishers no longer use the software as a revenue source; ( B) there are many cases where noone knows who owns the rights to the software anyway, so it cannot be released legally; and © because very few publishers or developers care enough to prosecute.

Regardless of what your stance on abandonware is (and it ranges from pirating obsolete software is harmless to any form of piracy is illegal) it is illegal. You should be aware that such software is not in the public domain, so you cannot simply base other products off of it. If people were to start doing that, publishers and developers would probably start caring a whole lot more about people illicitly copying obsolete software -- and would probably be liable to crack down on any use of their obsolete software.

If you want to modify the software at will, you will have to wait for the copyright to expire. At that point, it will enter the public domain and you will be able to do what you please with it.

 

[superpantoufle]

I completely agree to the simple answer and to the deeply nuanced one… 

And I just wanted to add my two cents: System 7.x cannot be considered abandonware in any way, since it is still published and distributed online by Apple, though free of charge. The same goes with System 6.x.

II2II could have added a point d: because the software is no longer distributed officially by its publisher. I would consider System 1.x to 5.x as abandonware, because you can't find those on apple.com, for example.

 

[Anonymous Freak]

In addition, Mac OS 7.5 is *NOT* "abandonware". It is "freeware". Apple makes it freely available for download, but you still have to agree to its license agreement before installing. And basing a separate product off it is *NOT* in the license terms.

 

[Christopher]

but you still have to agree to its license agreement before installing

Who would say "no I don't agree to their standards... :

 

[Bunsen]

The only type of software where this would be legal is that released under -some- kinds of open source licenses.

 

[Dennis Nedry]

How would you plan to modify System 7.5 if you don't have the source code anyway? I guess I don't entirely get your question.

"based on System 7.5": Are you proposing to write an entirely new program that "acts" like System 7.5? Or maybe you want to create a software package that uses the System 7.5 system file to boot but replaces the Finder with some other application?

You may be able to require an existing install of System 7.5, then create a sort of patcher that modifies it to be your new package, so you aren't distributing any of Apple's code. There have been plenty of free system mods that work like that and Apple doesn't seem to mind. (Remember ResExcellence?)

 

[Gil]

Or maybe you want to create a software package that uses the System 7.5 system file to boot but replaces the Finder with some other application?

Correct. I'm just wondering if Apple would even care if I were to do something like that, since System 7 is so old.

 

[Mac128]

Correct. I'm just wondering if Apple would even care if I were to do something like that, since System 7 is so old.

Yes. You will be sued so fast you won't have time to put everything into your wife's name and divorce her before declaring bankruptcy. It is unlikely Apple would even grant a license. Further, Apple may have lost some rights to certain versions of System 7 and may not even be able to grant a license to it. Bottom line, it is not worth their time, but they absolutely do not consider the copyright abandoned. Your best bet is to distribute it quietly and if you intend to profit from it, do it on a donation basis, having no direct relation to the System 7 packaged product.

 

[lee4hmz]

Or maybe you want to create a software package that uses the System 7.5 system file to boot but replaces the Finder with some other application?

Correct. I'm just wondering if Apple would even care if I were to do something like that, since System 7 is so old.

In this case, everyone's right; there's really no legal way of doing this, unless you happen to have a few billion dollars lying around. You'd basically have to stage a hostile takeover and fire everyone before they'd even consider licensing to a third party again.

Can you expand on what it is your application would be doing? Maybe there's a less troublesome way of doing it.

-lee

 

[LCGuy]

There is one legal way that I could imagine you could do it...simply require that the person has System 7.5.3 installed, and advise them to replace the Finder with your software. This is, of course, assuming that your software contains no proprietary Apple code or resources.