Re: [gentoo-dev] Re: last rites: games-fps/postal2mp-demo

[Rich Freeman <rich0@gentoo.org>]

On Wed, Jul 16, 2014 at 10:50 AM, Ulrich Mueller <ulm@gentoo.org> wrote:
> IANAL, but there is no such concept as "abandonware" in copyright law.
> Copyright can expire, at which point the work enters into the public
> domain. However, the time for that is generally too long to play any
> practical role for software (typically 70 years post mortem auctoris).
>
> Therefore we cannot distribute a package unless it is explicitly
> allowed by its license.
>

Well, copyright law varies by jurisdiction.  However, I don't think it
really makes sense for Gentoo to pursue this for a few reasons.

Please note that I'm completely sympathetic to the cause here - I just
don't think this is a wise way to go about it.

This is legally a very risky thing to do.  If you're going to do it
you want to take advantage of countries with friendly laws, etc.
Sticking a file on every Gentoo mirror is basically the exact opposite
of that - every one of our sponsors in countries all over the world
are open to lawsuit, and those targetting us could have their pick of
jurisdiction.

Also, why combine a low-risk activity like running a distro with a
high-risk one like hosting abandonware.  There is no technical
requirement to co-mingle these activities.  Gentoo depends on lots of
servers/sponsors/etc for its core mission.  Why put all of that at
risk for something that really isn't essential to our mission?

If somebody is interested in maintaining abandonware I'd take an
entirely different approach.  It should be managed as its own upstream
project, completely independent of Gentoo or any other distro.  They
should understand the legal risks, and structure their project in a
way that minimizes them, such as by operating in countries where this
activity is legal.

Rich