The laws were made for a reason, to keep people from profiting from anothers hard work for a specific period of time after which the copyrighted material is public domain.
Most "pirates" of vintage software are NOT making a profit, and likewise, the original author(s) or companies aren't, either.
Some people have paid money to make the copyright last forever and never become public domain, I don't believe that was the intent of the law as first put down.
Copyright
absolutely does NOT last forever. Read the law:
http://www.copyright.gov/title17/92chap3.html
Yes, it can be extended for 67 years, but not forever.
