Honestly, this should be a bigger discussion, and not limited to just games. If a software company sells a software license for perpetual use to someone, they should not be allowed to use copy protection mechanisms that prevent the licensee from using it in perpetuity.
If there’s some other technical reason why the software won’t run any more after ten or twenty years, that’s another story. But if they just can’t be bothered to keep running the licensing servers, then they need to bloody well remove the stinking copy protection.
The promise copyright holders were supposed to uphold was that the public received it as public domain when the copyright ended. How the fuck can you receive anything as public domain when the media is completely lost after only 10% of the duration of the copyright?
This is just another obvious sign that the whole copyright system is completely broken. If copyright holders won’t retain the media long enough for the copyright to expire, and hold up their end of the bargain, then we have no obligation to uphold their copyright.
Honestly, this should be a bigger discussion, and not limited to just games. If a software company sells a software license for perpetual use to someone, they should not be allowed to use copy protection mechanisms that prevent the licensee from using it in perpetuity.
If there’s some other technical reason why the software won’t run any more after ten or twenty years, that’s another story. But if they just can’t be bothered to keep running the licensing servers, then they need to bloody well remove the stinking copy protection.
The promise copyright holders were supposed to uphold was that the public received it as public domain when the copyright ended. How the fuck can you receive anything as public domain when the media is completely lost after only 10% of the duration of the copyright?
This is just another obvious sign that the whole copyright system is completely broken. If copyright holders won’t retain the media long enough for the copyright to expire, and hold up their end of the bargain, then we have no obligation to uphold their copyright.