John Lee <[log in to unmask]> wrote:

>OK, we need a legal opinion...if HP abandons the platform, do they
still
>have legal rights over it?  After all, this is at the heart of all the
>licensing questions, is it not?
>
>Signed,
>
>John Lee, with his worm can opener in hand

HP owns the copyright (the right to make additional copies or
derivative products) to MPE in all the various versions (MPE-V, MPE-XL,
MPE/iX, even back to MPE-I). Copyrights used to expire in a shorter
time frame but were extended by treaty with the European Union to 50
years (if memory serves correctly today on the number of years). At any
rate, HP owns the copyright even if they discontinue production and
support of the copyrighted work. Only if HP abandons the copyright to
the public domain will everyone be able to freely do whatever they want
with MPE or if HP assigns the copyright to an organization such as
OpenMPE will then OpenMPE be able to carry the torch of freedom
forward, assuming of course that HP gives the source to the public
domain or to OpenMPE.

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