Quote:
Originally Posted by Agustin
I say it again: you must give people an option to acquire your work. Sell it or give it for free, but ensure its availability. Right now a copyright holder has no such responsibility. Allow me to illustrate with another example:
The Sound produced some of the most amazing records in the 80's. They were never commercially successful though, so they still remain mostly unheard of. Yet many critics agree they were just as important as Joy Division or Echo & the Bunnymen. Trust me on this one: their records are pure gold.
Two band members, including their founder, are dead now and the rights completely belong to Warner. However, Warner has consistently failed to publish those records for well over two decades.
Simply put: this is nothing short of a crime. The copyright holder isn't even trying and The Sound remains condemned to oblivion. The system has failed, therefore the system must change.
People has the right to listen to The Sound. And it's just as important as the right Warner holds right now.
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Reading all these posts I've got to agree that the copyright laws are wrong & always have been. In my mind copyright has always been about protecting the work of a writer/artist/game developer etc etc to eliminate plagiarism & in my mind the copyright should never belong to anyone else other them & their heirs.
It should never have been about transferring 'ownership' of someone else's work, the law should never have allowed this to happen & limited contracts for permissions/use of work put in place instead with default conditions in the event that a publisher etc fails to promote that work. I agree Agustin - it is a crime.
It has always happened that singers, musicians, writers, game developers etc (artistic people) are at the mercy of big people in the industries to get their work put forward to the point where their career sometimes get restrained later or there is a block on progressing their original ideas. But unless the law changes then no-one has the right to distribute work other than the copyright holder.
I don't agree with sites that, however sincerely, want to share older games that they have no permission to use. At the same time in a climate where so many easily available current games lose a lot of revenue through illegal distribution I really can't blame anyone for using an abandonware site to try & get hold of a game they can't get anywhere else!
