united-states copyright internet software fair-use
Can I share a copy of Adobe Standalone Flash Player?
<p>As you all know by now, Flash is dead. However, people still want to play flash games. People used to be able to download the standalone adobe flash player to keep playing games flash games, but apparently they've removed the download page for it.</p>
<p>I still have a copy of the flash player and would like to share it with Flash game fans. I won't be profiting off of it, and I will credit Adobe (it's called the Adobe Flash Player after all, so it's impossible not to give them credit). Would it be legal for me to distribute the Flash Player online?</p>
<p>This is a United States question by the way.</p>

<p>No. Copyright does not have exemptions for obsolete works, use with credit, or non-commercial use. Depending on the purpose for the distribution, this could be <a href="https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fair_use" rel="noreferrer">fair use</a>, but it is unlikely that a court will consider this fair use when the only reason is for other people to be able to play games.</p>
<p>Perhaps you could try contacting Adobe; it's possible that they will give you a license to distribute the Flash Player.</p>
<p>This isn't directly relevant to the legal aspect of copying Adobe's Flash Play, but to answer the underlying issue of legally playing Flash games, perhaps you/others could try <a href="https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gnash_(software)" rel="noreferrer">Gnash</a>, a libre reimplementation of Flash. I have not used it, but apparently Gnash can run some Flash software without using Adobe's player.</p>
