Downloading copyrighted software without permission is copyright infringement, regardless of the product’s retail availability. The Interactive Digital Software Association (ISDA), a trade group that represents software companies, has taken a stand against the practice of distributing abandonware, arguing that while it may not harm publishers financially, it deprives them of the right to control their intellectual property. While a few rights holders have released their aging software into the public domain, most abandoned software remains under copyright. The copyright on a game or software title doesn’t expire, however, simply because the product is obsolete.
While they may not appeal to a wide audience, a small group of people driven by nostalgia or curiosity actively seek out these old programs. As a result, many games and programs that were once very popular are not even legally available today. Video games, for example, don’t usually bring in much revenue after about three years. This means that most software has a very limited window of commercial viability. In practice, most rights holders seldom expend the effortĬomputer software is a rapidly changing industry, and companies that develop, sell, and support software are under constant pressure to improve their products. Most abandonware is, however, not in the public domain, so downloading and installing these programs without the appropriate software licenses is technically copyright infringement in most countries. Since the late 1990s, a community dedicated to preserving and supporting abandoned software has developed, and hundreds of websites offer free downloads of old games and programs. The term is usually describes older video games, but can apply to any type of software no longer sold or supported. Abandonware is computer software that has effectively been discarded by its creator or distributor.