Magazine + Software archive project to combat piracy

[Amithony]

Good afternoon everyone. I just joined amiga.org not so long ago. I'm glad to see that the machine we all love still receives support today. I was reading a thread re: pirated amiga software and old magazines. Do you think it would be worth creating a public domain archive with permission of the owners who released the material for preserving items such as magazines and cover disks and even games? I know there are mongrels making money out of selling these items on ebay, but  if it were free to everyone, wouldn't help preserve the Amiga in the long run? I know its probably a can of worms, but how good would it be to go to a back issue of a magazine to read important information? Couldnt some good come of this?

regards,
Anthony

A4000/060
A2000HD
A500

[tokyoracer]

But that would be even worse surely? People could then sell them "legally" and most likely, successfully.

[Amithony]

I think it would be better than seeing them all disappear over time though, wouldn't it?

[B00tDisk]

If I may...?

Back in 1999, Wizard of the Coast (owners of TSR, and all the brands/trademarks/etc. for Dungeons & Dragons) decided to release a "25 years of Dragon Magazine CD-ROM Archive", a compilation in .PDF of the print magazine that was launched in support of D&D back in '74.

Well it was pretty well received by the fans...but suddenly a bunch of people who'd written for it over the years came out of the woodwork and wanted to know why they weren't getting any compensation for sales of the magazine, or why their stuff was being used without permission.  As soon as initial stocks of the compilation CD-ROMs ran out, Wizards pulled the product, but not before they had to enter into an agreement with Kenzer & Co. to license the older D&D rules for a time.

That's a good cautionary tale to consider before leaping in to such an endeavor.

[adolescent]

Have you been to Amiga Magazine Rack?  (Sounds like exactly what you're asking for...)

[Amithony]

Wow. That is a cool site. Thanks for the assist! I wonder if the collection will ever be completed.

[adolescent]

If you have anything missing I'm sure they take submissions.

[Amithony]

I was actually thinking of uploading my own. I think the project is a great idea, though it doesn't seem to be met by enthusiasm for those holding originals. I still think it's better to have them somewhere than to lose them over time like the old BYTE mags. I like what Dr.Dobbs used to do in putting all of the issues on to a CD for those who may have missed one.

[dochogan]

I'd been thinking something along these lines earlier, and the legal considerations are, of course, the problem.

But...are they really?  Here in the US, at least, copyright expires after 20 years...doesn't that automatically place all the mags and softs prior to 88 in the public domain?  Notable exceptions would be Newtek's Lightwave and Toaster products, Caligari's TrueSpace products, and Scala's MM-series products, as those have continued to be published thereby extending copyright date.

Am I way off base thinking this to be the case?  At the least, I wonder if 'piracy' is an inaccurate term for p2p'd and fleabayed items :/

[Belial6]

In the US, patents are 20 years.  Copyright is 70 years past the creators death.  In other words, nothing will ever be produced and make it into the public domain in a single lifetime.  For all intents and purposes, copyright lasts forever in the US.

[dochogan]

Dang it