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[Flop]

Sorry for bringing this up just when it seemed the discussion was over, but I think some people are missing parts of the picture.

The whole "law argument" isn't really a very good one in this case, IMO. Don't forget that the same laws that apply to all ESA protected games, also apply to almost every game on abandonia. It's no more legal to host, say, Railroads and Robber Barons, than any ESA protected game. The only difference is that nobody is enforcing the copyright laws on behalf of RaRB, probably because Avalon Hill isn't a member of the ESA.

While you can argue that Avalon Hill could just pursue the matter themselves, assuming that they care, that doesn't really matter. It's illegal no matter what.

The real reason why ESA protected games aren't on the site, is that putting them on the site might well mean the end of abandonia, which none of us are interested in, obviously. But bringing the law into it seems a bit hypocritical to me.

Sorry if the tone seems a bit harsh, I don't mean to offend anyone, but I felt this had to said. I'll just end with a quote from Abandonias own FAQ:

Wikipedia: "Abandonware is computer software which is no longer being sold or supported by its copyright holder. Alternately, the term is also used for software which is still available, but on which further support and development has been deliberately discontinued." Since the software is no longer sold or supported, the copyright holders are not directly harmed in any way. This is why abandonware sites are, for the most part, ignored by the law. The distribution of copyrighted software however is, and will allways be, illegal!