WordStar for DOS and the DMCA

Tagged with abandonware, dmca, dos, wordstar on August 13, 2024

WordStar for DOS, last updated in 1992, is abandonware. The company that published it, MicroPro International, was acquired by Softkey International in 1993. Softkey was acquired by Mattel in 1999 for Mattel Interactive, which handled software distribution. That subsidiary has been defunct since 2001.

I recently read an article at Tom’s Hardware about science-fiction author Robert J. Sawyer’s effort to preserve the software. I then found articles about it at other places after a Google search for “wordstar”. Sawyer blogged about it here and created a dedicated web page for it here.

DMCA Status

The Software Preservation Network published a guide to the DMCA (Digital Millennium Copyright Act) exemption for software preservation. The exemption is directed to preservation activities by libraries, archives, and museums. Unfortunately, it doesn’t cover hobbyists and collectors.

Paragraph 10 of the Federal Register’s Exemption to Prohibition on Circumvention of Copyright Protection Systems for Access Control Technologies defines the exemption.

A Personal Recommendation

As some would say, I have no dog in this fight. I have, however, been the target of civil liability threats over hosted software in the past.

From sometime in 1992 to the end of 1998, I ran a bulletin board service and had all kinds of software available for download. I solved my unique situation by getting permission directly from the developers for the software in question. That was before the DMCA even existed.

I sent Sawyer an e-mail message recommending he donate his archive to a library association to remove any potential civil liability. One can never know who might come out of the woodwork to sue for damages. The court costs alone can cause a great deal of grief.

I may not have had a good reason to get involved even this much, but what if he didn’t know about the civil liability? None of the articles I read even mentioned it.

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