Comment on One Of The Best Games Ever Turns 25, And You Still Can't Buy It
CaptainBlinky@lemmy.myserv.one 3 days ago
This actually makes a lot of sense. If none of these companies are willing to claim ownership of the IP, then “pirating” the games has no risk… since nobody is willing to claim ownership of the IP. Well played!
almost1337@lemmy.zip 3 days ago
The term for this is “abandonware”
CaptainBlinky@lemmy.myserv.one 3 days ago
Not really. There’s a lot of abandonware where the IP holders still pull out the lawyers.
theangriestbird@beehaw.org 3 days ago
ehhh i hear you, “abandonware” can be defined as “software which is no longer supported or updated”, but that is a very broad definition. I think one could also define abandonware as “software which is no longer supported or updated, and which has no clear IP owner anymore”, and I think that that is the colloquial definition for a lot of people. I think we need a new word for one of these two definitions.
Malgas@beehaw.org 3 days ago
I propose “orphanware” for that subset of abandonware that has no clear owner.
Consistent with the broader term “orphan work”.
CaptainBlinky@lemmy.myserv.one 3 days ago
Fair point. I think there needs to be a legal definition of IP’s that no longer have a claimant and therefore go public domain by default. If nobody can show ownership then nobody owns it.