> If the copyright owner reappears and asserts his/her rights, then it wasn't really abandonware in the first place.
This doesn't seem like something you can just throw out and accept people to accept. It's essentially saying, "The law is, do whatever you want. If we punish you, you're a criminal, so you deserve it." That isn't the way good law works.
Furthermore, just because a copyright holder takes interest once you've done something with it doesn't mean it wasn't abandonware. It's entirely possible that the copyright holder is hard to track down and doesn't even know they hold the copyright until after you have resurrected it.
This doesn't seem like something you can just throw out and accept people to accept. It's essentially saying, "The law is, do whatever you want. If we punish you, you're a criminal, so you deserve it." That isn't the way good law works.
Furthermore, just because a copyright holder takes interest once you've done something with it doesn't mean it wasn't abandonware. It's entirely possible that the copyright holder is hard to track down and doesn't even know they hold the copyright until after you have resurrected it.