Amiga.org
Amiga computer related discussion => Amiga Software Issues and Discussion => Topic started by: Florida on March 25, 2011, 06:29:14 PM
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Most cover disks contains demos and shareware but there were also full length programs. Are you allowed to transfer the data from the floppy to your hard drive and share it with others?
In other words, is it legal to download each and complete Amiga magazine cover disks like 'CU Amiga' regardless of content?
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Never seen any of the magazines that no longer exist complain, there are tons of sites where you can download old magazine coverdisks including mine and no-one who claims to own the copyright to them has ever complained or tried to stop them... :)
The only ones you'll find complaining are the holier than thou copyright mafia, who'll no doubt show up here shortly screaming blue murder... :lol:
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no-one who claims to own the copyright to them has ever complained or tried to stop them... :)
Only those who don't own the copyright complaining to you Franko? :D
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Only those who don't own the copyright complaining to you Franko? :D
You got that right, the holier than thou brigade seem to think it's a hobby or something... :lol:
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Maybe the "magazines" can't complain, but some of the authors of the cover disk software packages might, 'cos back then only an exclusive right for especially this disk on that cover were given...
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Maybe the "magazines" can't complain, but some of the authors of the cover disk software packages might, 'cos back then only an exclusive right for especially this disk on that cover were given...
I would expect most of the authors to be secretly amazed that people still want to use their software in 2011.
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Never seen any of the magazines that no longer exist complain, there are tons of sites where you can download old magazine coverdisks including mine and no-one who claims to own the copyright to them has ever complained or tried to stop them... :)
The only ones you'll find complaining are the holier than thou copyright mafia, who'll no doubt show up here shortly screaming blue murder... :lol:
Apart from Future Publishing.....
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It is certainly and undoubtedly illegal, and in 99% of the case, nobody will care if you download old amiga programs from 1992.
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It is certainly and undoubtedly illegal, and in 99% of the case, nobody will care if you download old amiga programs from 1992.
I always figured that when a publisher allowed their software to be released in full for some token lump sum payment from a $5 magazine that they were admitting that they didn't expect to sell another copy of it ever again.
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So what if you have the original disks? Are you allowed to transfer the content of the floppy to the hard drive and make an archive? Where are the Amiga owners who grew up to become lawyers?
Some years ago I wrote to one of the creators of 'Take 'Em Out' in Sweden. He has very excited to hear that in this age that his game was still was being played. He did not have the authority to freely release the game.
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If you own the original disks then your allowed to install it on an HD or make a backup copy for personal use... :)
But at the end of the day is there actually anyone left on the planet who would be willing to take someone to court for making old obsolete magazine coverdisks that you can no longer purchase freely available on the net... I would seriously doubt it... :)
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So what if you have the original disks? Are you allowed to transfer the content of the floppy to the hard drive and make an archive? Where are the Amiga owners who grew up to become lawyers?
Some years ago I wrote to one of the creators of 'Take 'Em Out' in Sweden. He has very excited to hear that in this age that his game was still was being played. He did not have the authority to freely release the game.
IANAL, but I did an 8 hour exam on IT-law earlier today, where a lot of the questions were about copyrights, legal view on downloads and such.
so here goes:
If you own the original disks, you are usually entitled to make a backup copy for personal use.
But you are not allowed to share it to other people.
This however is usually defined within the consumer rights, which can be different depending on the laws in your country.
There was a courtcase a few years ago, in France, where a consumer was sued for copying a movie from DVD to VHS, in order to use it in a video player at his mothers place.
He won, the court then said that a consumer had the right to copy a movie so it become usable for the consumers needs, and showing the movie to his mother counted as "private use".
That was a few years ago though, this is a grey area where laws and rulings changes every year.
If there is a copy protection, then it is a different matter.
It is normally not legal to go around or hack a copy protection (that would defeat the whole purpose of the copy protection.)
In this case, what you can do, is to request a new copy from the company who has the rights to the disk or cd/dvd.
And this is the big dilemma, what to do if the company does not exist anymore?
The copyright is still there.
But, I have only seen court cases about file sharing, none about downloads (yet), so as long as you just download a copy of the disks for personal use, you should be fine.
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as long as the magazine is out of print why not but not cool for currently active magazines like Amiga Future
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@ kix300r
Like you say and I agree 100% with it, if it's still being produced and available to buy then I'm against having software on sites where you can download it for free while someone is still actually producing it and making it available for sale... :)
But when it comes to the software that is no longer available to buy (for whatever the reasons may be) whether it be games, apps, Workbench disks, magazine coverdisks, etc... then I don't see how anyone can complain, call it piracy and all that BS when the stuff is still being saught after by folk who want to use it...
If the copyright holder or author all these years later objects to their software being free to download on sites, even though it's no longer available to buy anywhere then instead of complaining about it, there is nothing to stop them starting up their own site and selling it as a download, that way they have no production costs for stuff like floppy disks, packaging postage etc... and I'm pretty sure they would in most cases sell enough to make some money on it... :)
But no all, those thousands of games and apps that were written for the Amiga are left to rot (or would be if it weren't for the sites where you can download them) as most of the companies, copyright holders, authors are long since gone from the Amiga scene and couldn't care less about them... :(
So I applaud any site that freely makes all this old software available to those who still want to use them. It's only the greetin faced gits who crop up on sites like this and try to make out they're some kind of legal experts that do all the complaining which is pathetic really when the original copyright owners couldn't give a crap about all that old software and are quite happy to leave it gathering dust and be lost forever when there are still folk out there who would be only to glad to be able to get hold of it and use it... :)
At the end of the day though, it doesn't matter what anyone on these forums has to say when they complain and call it piracy about all this old software, as there are countless sites on the internet where you can find all this software and nothing the copyright mafia on these forums can ever say will stop it... :)
I honestly don't get why such folks complain about it, I think they just like to try and make out to everyone else that they think they're smarter than everyone else by spouting absolute drivel about copyright laws when as I say the actual copyright holders couldn't give a Sh!t about it... :)
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There was a courtcase a few years ago, in France, where a consumer was sued for copying a movie from DVD to VHS, in order to use it in a video player at his mothers place.
So his mother told on him or what? :laughing:
I totally fail to see how this is even gray zone of piracy.
As for working around copy protections, this is done automatically by quite alot of hardware and software today, so what can a user do? My old plextor drive happily ignores most CD copy protection schemes that were popular for a while, my XBMC installation automatically works its way around various schemes of DRM etc.
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If I recall it correctly, there was copy protection involved, and it might have been the customer who sued the company since he could not copy it over, think this was 4-5 years ago. anyway, the court did rule in his favor.
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@ kix300r
So I applaud any site that freely makes all this old software available to those who still want to use them. It's only the greetin faced gits who crop up on sites like this and try to make out they're some kind of legal experts that do all the complaining which is pathetic really when the original copyright owners couldn't give a crap about all that old software and are quite happy to leave it gathering dust and be lost forever when there are still folk out there who would be only to glad to be able to get hold of it and use it... :)
I prefer the sites that get permission of original copyright holders to distribute the programs: Look at
Back to the Roots (http://www.back2roots.org) or at AmigaFuture downloads (http://www.amigafuture.de/downloads.php).
greets,
Staf.
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So what if you have the original disks? Are you allowed to transfer the content of the floppy to the hard drive and make an archive? Where are the Amiga owners who grew up to become lawyers?
Some years ago I wrote to one of the creators of 'Take 'Em Out' in Sweden. He has very excited to hear that in this age that his game was still was being played. He did not have the authority to freely release the game.
I think that is probably the problem in most cases. The person responsible for creating the art in the first isn't actually the copyright holder, some faceless corporation is.
Copyright shouldn't be transferable IMO.
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despite what our anal retentive copyright "experts" here say, it may be completely legal. It will be a case by case basis however. There may well be one program on the CD that makes it illegal to pass it around.