Date   : Mon, 17 Oct 2005 09:50:08 +0100
From   : "David Harper" <dl.harper@...>
Subject: Distribution of old software

What are the opinions of the people on this list about the sharing of old 
software? I am thinking of software for the Beeb which, presumably, is still 
within copyright, but which is otherwise unobtainable, which will never be 
sold again commercially, and from which no-one would ever expect to make any 
further profit.

In particular, there have been a few people on the list who have acquired a 
Master 512 / 80186 co-pro, but do not have the DOS-Plus disks to go with it. 
The co-pro is (practically) useless without the disks, but there is nowhere 
you can buy them. I still have a working 512 (actually a 1Mb version), and I 
have the original disks which are still perfectly good. I could very easily 
make copies of the disks for others.

Is this acceptable practice? The software was originally produced by Acorn 
and Digital Research, but who now owns the copyright since Acorn was split 
up / sold off / renamed, and DRI folded, is anybody's guess (or does someone 
know?)

In a similar vein, I have quite a lot of the programs produced for the 512 
by Essential Software. (I wrote a few of them.) Essential Software closed 
down in 1994, and I have not been in touch with Robin Burton since then. I 
doubt that he would want payment for any of these items now, but is it 
acceptable to share them?

Sorry if this issue has been done to death on this list in the past. I have 
only recently discovered the list after being away from the Beeb for many 
years.

David Harper