[Simh] OpenVMS Hobbyist Program

[Dan Gahlinger]

You're probably "safe" to do so if you're in a country that is not part of The Berne Convention, YMMV.

But again this exposes an age-old issue regarding "abandonware".

Will the Vax VMS copyright therefore expire in 2046?
eg 25 years after the license expires.

We need a hobbyist member with massive pockets to step up and protect it for all of us...

Dan
________________________________
From: Simh <simh-bounces at trailing-edge.com> on behalf of Johnny Billquist <bqt at softjar.se>
Sent: Sunday, March 8, 2020 7:56:16 AM
To: Bob Eager <rde at tavi.co.uk>; simh at trailing-edge.com <simh at trailing-edge.com>
Subject: Re: [Simh] OpenVMS Hobbyist Program

On 2020-03-08 12:42, Bob Eager wrote:
> On Sun, 8 Mar 2020 12:34:46 +0100
> Johnny Billquist <bqt at softjar.se> wrote:
>
>>> is HPE going to sue individual hobbyists for copyright? I highly
>>> doubt it.
>>
>> Why would they? HPE have given hobbyists licenses which will expire,
>> at which point they just don't have a working license anymore. Not
>> sure what HPE would sue for...
>
> I think the context was, at some point in the future, a hobbyist using
> a pirate licence.

Ah. So the question is if HPE would ever sue anyone for using pirate
licenses. Good question. Technically, they could, of course. Will they
try and hunt people down? I sortof suspect they will not.
But HPE are not the only ones with a stake here. What about VSI? After
all, if HPE have stopped selling, they wouldn't gain any more money by
anyone willing to pay anyway.

Anyway, this all becomes speculation. We know it is illegal. Anyone is
free to decide on their own if they are willing to break that rule/law,
and willing to take that risk (be it high or low). Nobody should make
that decision based on the assumption of someone else that it is "safe"
though.

   Johnny

--
Johnny Billquist                  || "I'm on a bus
                                   ||  on a psychedelic trip
email: bqt at softjar.se             ||  Reading murder books
pdp is alive!                     ||  tryin' to stay hip" - B. Idol
_______________________________________________
Simh mailing list
Simh at trailing-edge.com
http://mailman.trailing-edge.com/mailman/listinfo/simh
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://mailman.trailing-edge.com/pipermail/simh/attachments/20200308/fef11a4a/attachment-0001.html>