[DECtalk] decTalk 4.4 4.5 and 4.6 as sapi5?

[Don]

On 6/25/2021 9:20 PM, Josh Kennedy wrote:
> no idea it looks like DECTALK is abandoned after all.

Or, he's sitting on it with plans for a new product.
Or, he's sold it to someone else.
Or, he's got an agreement with some competing firm NOT
to offer his product (to infringe on sales of the
competitor's product).
Or...

"Abandoned" has a very specific LEGAL meaning when it comes
to intellectual property.  It's not like "finding" an old
truck in a field and laying claim to it, despite absence
of title.

<https://www.law.cornell.edu/wex/abandoned_property>

"In the context of intellectual property, abandoned property
refers to the relinquishing of intellectual property rights
by an owner, thereby allowing others to use the intellectual
property without protest.  For example, an inventor who does
not register a patent to his invention relinquishes the
patent rights associated with his invention, allowing others
to use his invention freely and without recourse."

Note the use of the word "relinquish" -- a *deliberate* act
to release your claim to the property rights associated
with an item.

One way to find out, for sure, is to take out an ad in
the NYTimes selling copies of the product and use, as
your defense, the fact that the legitimate owner never
tried to stop you (in some reasonable period of time).

The downside of this is the owner CAN stop you -- at
considerable expense to *you*!

I suspect the original DECtalk copyright dates AFTER the
1976 revisions to copyright law.  As such, those terms
apply.  It will be another several decades before the
copyright might "lapse" into the public domain (if the
holder fails to reassert it to "restart the clock")

Pick one of the FOSS projects and port it to whatever platform
you're interest lies.  Then, you have complete control over YOUR
implementation -- forever!