[Info-vax] VAX VMS going forward

[Arne Vajhøj]

On 7/20/2020 8:33 AM, Simon Clubley wrote:
> On 2020-07-17, Terry Kennedy <terry-groups at glaver.org> wrote:
>> I have no idea if this is still the current status, but it is the latest
>> I could find on copyright.gov:
>> https://www.copyright.gov/1201/docs/librarian_statement_01.html
>>
>> Note exemption number 3: "Computer programs and video games distributed
>> in formats that have become obsolete and which require the original media
>> or hardware as a condition of access." That may be applicable to the
>> current situation.
> 
> No it isn't. You have no legal right to run the VAX/VMS distributions
> other than the rights granted to you on a temporary basis by its current
> owners.
> 
> Your argument is just another take on the abandonware argument and the
> abandonware argument has been shown to have no basis in law.

The link is actually not about abandonware. But about circumventing
technical license enforcement in case of it requiring obsolete
media/hardware.

Abandonware is not a concept in US law, but it is a concept in EU law
(Orphan Works Directive). And it does not apply to VMS at all - it
applies only to cases where copyright holder cannot be found and it
does not apply to software in general.

Arne