Section 302 of the copyright law specifies the duration of copyrights. For works created after 1978, the copyright lasts for the life of the author plus fifty years, or, in the case of anonymous works, pseudonymous works, and works made for hire, the "copyright endures for a term of seventy-five years from the year of its first publication, or a term of one hundred years from the year of its creation, whichever expires first." 17 USC Section 302(c). The copyright law does not impose an obligation on the part of the copyright owner to market the work or otherwise make it available to the public for any
period of time.
Thus, the notion of the abandonment of a copyright due to a lack of distribution, technical support, or even the copyright holder's going out of business, is false. Furthermore, as most software becomes outdated after ten years, few people would have use for 75 year-old product.
Similarly to those users who promote the 24-hour rule, the concept of abandonware is an attempt to justify copyright infringement. Abandonware does not exist. Users who establish abandonware sites and users who download titles from them are both liable under copyright law.
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http://www.siia.net/piracy/pubs/statement_24hour.pdf
For those who thought that Hiarcs 3 was "abandonware", Mark Uniacke would have to be dead and buried + 50 years before you could consider anything he wrote as non-copyrighted.
Peter