Re: [stella] Piracy -- copyrights expired?

Subject: Re: [stella] Piracy -- copyrights expired?
From: "John Saeger" <john@xxxxxxxxxxx>
Date: Tue, 13 Jan 1998 23:32:17 -0800
-----Original Message-----
From: Chris Cracknell <crackers@xxxxxxxx>
To: stella@xxxxxxxxxxx <stella@xxxxxxxxxxx>
Date: Sunday, January 11, 1998 9:41 PM
Subject: Re: [stella] Piracy -- copyrights expired?


>Before 1982 there were no provisions in the copyright law for the
protection
>of software. Software was considered by many to be a "usable object"
>(meaning a tool, like a hammer or widget calibrator) and not a creative
>work so to protect software developers from piracey changes were made
>to the copyright act in 1982 to include protection for software.
>
>Copyright law is not retroactive.

Does this mean that games produced prior to 1982 are copyright free?

Thanks again,

John Saeger


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