All free software licenses grant you additional rights on top of copyright law. These rights allow you to make copies of the software given certain conditions. If you violate them then they do not apply and only copyright law applies so any copies you made are illegal.
First that's not true and even if that would be only true in the US. Since the US is not THE "law" you cant say that.
Also:
>Under the current law, works created on or after January 1, 1978, have a copyright term of life of the author plus seventy years after the author's death.
https://www.copyright.gov/what-is-copyright/
So when Gates dies and i violate Microsofts License 7 years later i can have DOS 6.22 for free and redistribute it right?
Gates does not hold the copyright for MS DOS 6.22 and it's not 7 years but 70. But yes, eventually yes, see how Sherlock Holmes became public domain. For PC software in 2024 this is not yet relevant, the Berne minimum is death plus 50 and the IBM PC is not yet 50 years old.
You and I will likely be dead.