Im just woundering before i setup a nice little one for some old software i have on a vps
Thanks Karl

It's illegal. But usually nobody cares since most 10 years old products aren't used and sold anymore *cough*windows xp*cough*

yes, iirc it is illegal due to a USA law stating that copyrights are no longer valid after 80 years... or something like that. but don't worry, everyone has it, just make sure it's old enough, 1 yo isn't abandonware yet...

Under UK law (only place I can comment on) it is technically illegal as it breaks copyright law.

That being said, nearly all cases are a civil matter between you and the company that owns the copyright, therefore, if the company that owns the copyright has gone bankrupt or no longer exists as a legal entity, they will not have the ability to take you to court and if they never transferred/sold the copyright, under law, they have abandoned their claim on it and the software comes under the banner of "abandonware". They can at any time state a claim and sue if they want to - it just hardly ever happens.

As for the criminal part behind it - Again, you need someone to actually challenge it and if they do, they can go to law enforcement and bring a criminal case, but in the case where the company is bankrupt, this again is very unlikely. The only times I have heard of the court upholding a case such as this without the copyright holders consent is simply when the police are trying to throw everything they can at a suspect - but this is very rare as it is not usually in the public interest.

Although, almost all software licenses/copyrights gets sold during a bankrupcy nowadays

We are all as "elusive Joe" We are not needed to anybody

this is the way i see it, take apple, are they gonna spend there time and money pursuing a 14 year old with a server with os 9 on it, or those company's that sell illegal mac clones running snow leopard? go figure, the worst that's gonna happen is you could be served a notice telling you to take the material down, you really have nothing to worry about

Considering they're going after a FOSS project for using the name "App Store" in the project, I wouldn't doubt Apple of going after 14-year-old with Mac OS 9 on his server.

well i will tell you when they do

Yeah, many people have old "abandonware" hosted online and don't get in any trouble from it. These days, companies usually only tend to care about their software from the last 3 or 4 years. So if the software, games, whatever you have up are ATLEAST 5 years old, you should be good to go. But I'd still be a bit cautious because it technically still is illegal.

Microsoft is taking care less on Windows XP despite being still supported. We will add it here by 2014.

Isn't it legal to share 10 year old stuffs? I think I have read that somewhere...

No, abandonware is not a legal definition, Your just very unlikely to get in trouble for it

Huh, okey, thought it was legal. But how old must it be then so it is legal to upload it?

It must be completely unsupported.

10 years but it has to be completely without support and must not be sold anymore.

Example: XP has 10 years but it still has support until 2014 so XP is not abandonware for now.

right, and Server 2003 until 2015.

Okey. Thanks for explaining.

Do you think that this is kind of an international rule or can it change depending on the country ?

always depends per country
but as always, strong companies have their business branches in other countries
thus enforce their original rules

Usually, its looked over, so long as you aren't claiming games such as Age of Empires III or Modern Warfare 3 as abandonware. If, at most, a developer plans to include an updated version in an anniversary package, or if it plans to go on GOG, it'd be a good idea to, again, not upload it. Basically, pick a target in the DOS/ Mac Classic/ Amiga/ Altair/ DEC Alpha/ Other Arcane OS range, and you're pretty good. =P