Path: utzoo!utgpu!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!cs.utexas.edu!uunet!aplcen!haven!adm!smoke!gwyn
From: gwyn@smoke.BRL.MIL (Doug Gwyn)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.apple2
Subject: Re: copyrights (was: Rastan and Bouncing Bluster help)
Message-ID: <14010@smoke.BRL.MIL>
Date: 4 Oct 90 08:36:36 GMT
References: <113339@tiger.oxy.edu>
Organization: U.S. Army Ballistic Research Laboratory, APG, MD.
Lines: 15

In article <113339@tiger.oxy.edu> prophet@oxy.edu (Dale Bruce LaFountain) writes:
>P.S.  Has anyone discovered the true status of all these 'classic'
>][+/e/c programs?  Has their copyright worn out?  I don't see a
>problem with distributing them, since none of them are being SOLD
>any longer.

All copyrights on programs for home computers in the U.S.A. are still
in effect and will be for quite a while.  The owners retain their
rights in the programs, whether or not they are offered for sale.

Some "out of print" games eventually get reissued in special bargain
packages.  Occasionally, as with Sierra On-Line's "Mystery House",
the owner may even decided to release it into the public domain.
Unless specifically released into the public domain, distribution of
the "classics" infringes on the legitimate rights of their owners.