Software that has been abandoned because its original publisher no longer exists is not automatically in the public domain, although in a few cases many rights may have been released under an open-source license. Or, the publisher may cease to exist as a corporate entity, for example, through bankruptcy or merger.īecause personal computers have not been around for long enough for the copyright on any programs written for them to expire, all abandonware that was once copyrighted is still copyrighted.
A software publisher may abandon a program because of declining sales, or because it was written for a hardware platform or operating system that is no longer being sold, such as the Apple II, Atari 800, or Commodore Amiga. Software becomes abandonware for various reasons.
Software that is still being sold, but no longer supported, is sometimes also referred to as abandonware. Abandonware is software that is no longer being sold or supported by its author, copyright owner, or licensed distributor.
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