ernyoka1, yes the concept of "abandonware" is an urban myth. Copyright cannot be lost by not defending it (unlike trademarks). This from http://www.bloodletters.com/copyright.shtml... "Copyright is never accidentally lost. You don't have to worry about losing your copyright by not defending it, as happens with trademarks. You can only explicitly give it away, by selling certain rights to a publisher, or by releasing it to the public domain, which you do by explicitly stating on the document something like, "I hereby release this work to the public domain." And to address the question... "when it's a FREE item, how can anybody LOOSE anything by it's redistribution?" That's not something that you have the ability to decide, only the original creator can do that. But even setting that aside... free items are often used for purposes of advertising, drawing traffic to a site/store, or showcasing work (as in an online portfolio)