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when a company takes something down despite having no plans to distribute it digitally themselves

OdradekOdradek
in General
I at least get it when they want to sell it on Amazon Video or some other streaming service, but if you're not gonna make something available digitally for any price online, don't fucking take down the thing you're already not profitting off of

Comments

  • Imipolex GImipolex G
    Touch the cow. Do it now.
    agreement
  • BeeBee
    edited 2018-04-03 20:30:00
    We really need an abandonware law that says all takedowns must come with a link to an official digital distributor, a lapse of official distribution and resulting free unlicensed distro (with disclosure of proper ownership) will not threaten trademark/copyright, and that they can still prosecute unlicensed paid distribution.

    That way companies can choose to either foot the costs of distribution if they think the product is still viable for sale, or allow it to be distributed as free advertising without risk of losing intellectual property -- i.e., they can choose to distro and reassert their full ownership later.  Like, digital is flexible enough that that can be a thing.

    Hell, you can even require an unofficial distribution to have a boilerplate
  • TatterhoodTatterhood
    I kinda feel like that's just going to lead to lots of "distribution" of old stuff in a way that involves footing as few costs as possible, viz. "good news, you can now pay us new-game prices for a .exe file that won't run on any operating system from this century, also we're still gonna C&D the unofficial patch".

    Maybe that's still an improvement idk.
  • TatterhoodTatterhood
    Though I guess, the word "abandonware" made me think of games but I assume Odradek more meant old TV shows on YouTube which that doesn't work quite as well on.
  • AnonusAnonus
    I've learned to tolerate drama...except on the boat
    I felt the same as you assumed Odradek does
  • Princess AlicePrincess Alice
    You are the end result of a “would you push the button” prompt where the prompt was “you have unlimited godlike powers but you appear to all and sundry to be an impetuous child” – Zero, 2022
    I feel like this would be a non-issue if copyrights expired in a reasonable timeframe.

    Like, give 'em 25 years. Anything old enough to drive a rental car is public domain. Problem solved.
  • Salix BabylonikaSalix Babylonika
    https://i.imgur.com/7Iil2JW.png
    yeah but that'll never happen because we live in a dystopic hellscape cartoon world where nothing makes sense
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