[greatgib]

Basically it is the problem with GOG also, I think that if you do nothing the game is Abandonware and I don't think that anyone can go after you to use it pirated or whatever, and even distribute it. Maybe it is shady, but something like that if there is no commercial activity and the IP violation is not enforced for some many times, it can be considered that you are responsible for this and there was no legal way for the user to be able to use the software.

But if GOG comes and the restore the "commercial activity" of a game, actively selling, even if no one buys, then you can't say that it was commercially abandoned, and that will postpone of that much that it will be on GOG the legal claim of "having the IP active".

[ndiddy]

"Abandonware" is not a legal concept. It's basically shorthand for selective IP enforcement. Essentially, it's saying that if you're illegally distributing a game or piece of software that the original publisher is no longer selling, it's probably fine and they probably won't go after you due to legal action being expensive for something that has little to no impact on the publisher's revenue.

> if there is no commercial activity and the IP violation is not enforced for some many times, it can be considered that you are responsible for this and there was no legal way for the user to be able to use the software.

That's somewhat true for trademarks. If you don't consistently enforce a trademark, then the person you're suing for trademark violation can use that as an argument in court. However, it's not true for copyright (such as someone illegally distributing a game you own).

[rpdillon]

This is a deeply flawed argument. The idea that folks focused on preservation are creating a legal hazard is false. Copyright law does not care whether the "IP is active". What GOG is doing here is an unmitigated good. To be clear, there is no "commercially abandoned" element to copyright, even if there should be.

[dmoy]

In fact there's no commercial requirement at all for copyright, abandoned or otherwise.

You can make a thing, copyright it, and also never sell, see for example open source software. You can even copyright something that nobody's seen before.

Copyright, patent, and trademark all have substantial differences.