Yes, but the fact is there normally comes an ownership gray area once that product is no longer "current" and support is discontinued. Where the manufacturer indirectly cedes responsibility of the product's upkeep unto the owner. Apple will not fix a 20 year old iPod, for instance, but they might offer you a new iPhone at a slight discount.
Take cars for instance. Other than extreme edge cases with experimental technology like the GM EV-1, cars are NEVER called back to the company to be destroyed once they reach a certain age and decide to stop stocking parts for them. But at the same time, during my continued ownership of an older car, I never become the owner of the car's intellectual property. I do not own the rights to the 1990s Toyota Camry in its totality, I just own AN example of one. And in owning that car, I can do whatever I like with it without the company sending me nasty legal letters. Drive it for another half a million miles. Change the body or engine parts. Lower it. Repaint it. Chop the roof off. Put my name on the back instead.
The same should apply to other forms of media. I don't own a film or a game, but I own an example of it. And given that product has now had support officially terminated, there should be absolutely NOTHING holding me back in enjoying that product even though support is gone. Whether that's as simple as playing it or giving it a total conversion into another game entirely through modding and remastering.
And until a landmark case rules in our favor, which is likely never, I am going to keep pirating, cracking, and distributing the tapes because if licensing beyond the original support window isn't ownership, then pirating isn't stealing. End of.
Yes, but the fact is there normally comes an ownership gray area once that product is no longer "current" and support is discontinued. Where the manufacturer indirectly cedes responsibility of the product's upkeep unto the owner. Apple will not fix a 20 year old iPod, for instance, but they might offer you a new iPhone at a slight discount.
Take cars for instance. Other than extreme edge cases with experimental technology like the GM EV-1, cars are NEVER called back to the company to be destroyed once they reach a certain age and decide to stop stocking parts for them. But at the same time, during my continued ownership of an older car, I never become the owner of the car's intellectual property. I do not own the rights to the 1990s Toyota Camry in its totality, I just own AN example of one. And in owning that car, I can do whatever I like with it without the company sending me nasty legal letters. Drive it for another half a million miles. Change the body or engine parts. Lower it. Repaint it. Chop the roof off. Put my name on the back instead.
The same should apply to other forms of media. I don't own a film or a game, but I own an example of it. And given that product has now had support officially terminated, there should be absolutely NOTHING holding me back in enjoying that product even though support is gone. Whether that's as simple as playing it or giving it a total conversion into another game entirely through modding and remastering.
And until a landmark case rules in our favor, which is likely never, I am going to keep pirating, cracking, and distributing the tapes because if licensing beyond the original support window isn't ownership, then pirating isn't stealing. End of.