Any game or software, which is no longer supported by its owner or publisher, is described as abandonware. This indicates that the owner of the game or software has abandoned their product because they no longer yield profit from them. There are several abandonware sites, which are conceived as illegitimate, unless the owner of the software has relinquished them as freeware. Generally, abandonware software is not commercially supported, as the copyright ownership might be imprecise for several reasons. Though abandonware software is not legally marketed, they could be obtained by Read More

Fair use is a principle present in US copyright law that pertains to the usage of copyrighted material in a limited manner, without prior consent from the copyright holders. Fair use of copyrighted material refers to the limited usage of such material for the purpose of criticism, commentary, teaching, research and news reporting.  Fair use and its related guidelines were clearly defined in 1976 under section 17 of the United States Copyright act. As per section 17 of the United States Copyright act, fair use is considered valid if the Read More

Once intellectual property enters the public domain, it is not longer protected by international copyright law and may be reused for free. When a book enters the public domain, it is normally due to the copyright term of the work expiring, the work being created as a product of government employment, or the creator of the work failing to complete the copyright requirements in his or her country. Authors of books classically have the rights to reproduce, create derivative works, and display the book or work that has been created. Read More

The term public domain refers to the point in time when intellectual property is no longer protected by national or international copyright law. Once the property in question enters the public domain, others may reuse the work for free. There are three primary reasons that result in intellectual property entering the public domain: 1 – The creator of the work failed to complete the requirements of copyright in his or her country within specified guidelines in relation to the publishing date of the work, 2- The work was completed by Read More

Excerpt from: 2600, Spring 1990, Page 27: In some places, scanning has been made illegal. It would be hard, though, for someone to file a complaint against you for scanning since the whole purpose is to call every number once and only once. It’s not likely to be thought of as harassment by anyone who gets a single phone call from a scanning computer. Some central offices have been known to react strangely when people start scanning. Sometimes you’re unable to get a dialtone for hours after you start scanning. Read More

Napster was started as an alternative to using the Internet Relay Chat rooms, search engines like Lycos and other sources to efficiently share files such as MP3 and other sound formats. It served as a peer to peer network which normal people could use to perform the act of file transfers to and from other users. This service helped to start a new wave of piracy which was a first of its kind with such efficiency. This sharing of music became a big thing between college students and the younger crowds of people Read More

Copyright is a type of intellectual property that pertains to the exclusive rights granted to an author of an authentic or creative piece of work, for a fixed period of time. Copyright also extends to any form of creative idea or information that is definite and set in its chosen medium. The author also has exclusive rights over the publication, adaptation, and distribution of their original work. The original work becomes part of the public domain after the fixed time period elapses. The time duration of a copyright varies with Read More

Digital watermarks are invisible or visible marks on an electronic image, music, video, text, or any material that serve the purpose of protecting the copyright of a material’s owner. In this sense, digital watermarks are like the watermarks used in currencies for counterfeit security. Stenography can also be applied in digital watermarks if one wants to make the watermark less detectable. A digital watermark is primarily a transparent image overlaid on the actual image. In some cases, though, digital watermarks cannot be detected by the human eye and includes important Read More