sheaday6 Posted March 31, 2003 Posted March 31, 2003 Recently, I found a large stash of 5 1/4" floppies. All of these discs had copies of old games on them, 41 total, half of which i had never heard of. I thought, "If I sold these I ebay, I could get at least a couple of dollars." Then I realized that, because they were copies, it might be illegal. Can someone tell me if this is true, because I really want to get rid of them (hopefully in exchange for $).
C Shutt Posted March 31, 2003 Posted March 31, 2003 If they aren't original copies, then reselling them is illegal. Sorry.
sheaday6 Posted April 2, 2003 Author Posted April 2, 2003 well, can I give them to Goodwill as a tax writeoff?
elTee Posted April 2, 2003 Posted April 2, 2003 If you can prove that they are backup disks, and that the originals have become corrupted then you can sell them. Companies, including LEC, used to recommend to people to copy the floppy disks in case the originals broke.
ThunderPeel2001 Posted April 3, 2003 Posted April 3, 2003 But also: They're 5 1/4 inch floppies... I SERIOUSLY doubt ANYONE would care... I'm sure there's probably only 5 people left with 5 1/4 inch drives anyway! ~ Johnny
Alien426 Posted April 4, 2003 Posted April 4, 2003 You could delete the games and sell the antique floppies. Can you name some of the games?
sheaday6 Posted April 5, 2003 Author Posted April 5, 2003 HIJAAK Flight Simulator Decathlon Battle Chess I Chess Pool Putt-Putt Boxing Battle Chess II Police Quest Space Quest II NFL Football Carmen SanDiego Out Numbered Gomoku Blockout Sub Simulator Risk Leisure Suit Larry 2 Sidekick Mean 18 Leisure Suit Larry 3-k Trivia Jack Nicklaus Gold Golf Arhitect Congo Bongo World Tournament Golf Burger Time Defender Battle of Britain Pinball Leisure Suit Larry 3 Double Dragon Jeopardy Wheel of Fortune
James Isaac Posted May 4, 2003 Posted May 4, 2003 Leisure Suit Larry and some others are popular, I'm sure some people would want them.
Joshi Posted May 4, 2003 Posted May 4, 2003 if they weren't 5"1/4, i'd buy them. and also, Alien426, that would only work if sheaday6 had a 5"1/4 drive to use to delete the files, which very few people do these days, it would involve haveing a very old computer, or a seperate drive for his cutrrent computer which would make no logical sense.
sheaday6 Posted May 5, 2003 Author Posted May 5, 2003 i dunno, i think big floppies will make a come back, like vintage clothing or scooby doo
Alien426 Posted May 5, 2003 Posted May 5, 2003 Originally posted by Neil Joshi ...a 5"1/4 drive to use to delete the files... Just use a magnet.
ThunderPeel2001 Posted May 5, 2003 Posted May 5, 2003 Just sell the games! The worst that will have is a "cease and desist" letter. Some of the those games might be incredibly rare to collector's DON'T DELETE THEM! (There are some games that NO-ONE has been able to find copies of!) i dunno, i think big floppies will make a come back, like vintage clothing or scooby doo :giggle1: Funniest thing I've heard in ages!!! ~ John
Joshi Posted May 5, 2003 Posted May 5, 2003 Police Quest and Space Quest II, thank you and goodnight **shoots himself in the head**
Bob Gnarly Posted May 6, 2003 Posted May 6, 2003 those games are all so old...are they the ones with the green text and black backround?
Bob Gnarly Posted May 7, 2003 Posted May 7, 2003 Originally posted by sheaday6 i dunno, i haven't actually played them well the copy right of the games does run out eventually so im not sure
Skinkie Posted May 7, 2003 Posted May 7, 2003 Copyrights expire 50 years after the author/creators death. Maybe it's different since they were made by big corporations, not sure.
sheaday6 Posted May 8, 2003 Author Posted May 8, 2003 are you sure, because abondonware games are all legal because the copyrights ran out, and there aren't many games made in 1953
Skinkie Posted May 8, 2003 Posted May 8, 2003 Not sure at all really. In government class we learned about copyrights a couple months ago and that what it said, but it seemed to be aimed more towards literature so the laws may differ.
Huz Posted May 8, 2003 Posted May 8, 2003 Originally posted by sheaday6 are you sure, because abondonware games are all legal because the copyrights ran out, and there aren't many games made in 1953 Abandonware is just software that nobody wants to exploit commercially any more (true abandonware, at least). It is still covered by copyright.
scabb Posted May 8, 2003 Posted May 8, 2003 Yeah, Skinkie is correct. It's 50 years after the authors first death (or, if the works are published after his/her death, 50 years after publication), and that goes for anything. That's the UK law anyway, I read about it in THE BIG BOOK OF LAW or something along the lines of, I don't know how it would work internationally. Even so, with things like games, many people have contributed towards their making, and the copyright is owned by Lucas Arts in this case, so who knows. And yeah, Abandonware's only abandonware if the company who owns the rights to it lets you have it for free, and even then there's probably a fine line. For instance, Rockstar have released GTA for free, and Revolution have done the same for Lure of the Temptress. Maybe when the company completely dies too? Who owns the copyrights then?
Oystein Posted May 8, 2003 Posted May 8, 2003 I guess if we just go and put a bullet in Roberta Williams' head, then we can all enjoy free Leisure Suit Larry games. Yay!
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