[$threadinfo[title]]

[emuguy]

i understand nintendow allows emulation to a certain extent

eg, if u own the origional game u are legally allowed to make a backup/download a rom of that game. and if u dont have the game u can keep the rom for 24 hours legally (try befor you buy)

right or wrong?

where can i find proof of this, cos i need to prove to some guys that it is true. thanx

[Trotterwatch]

eg, if u own the origional game u are legally allowed to make a backup/download a rom of that game. and if u dont have the game u can keep the rom for 24 hours legally (try befor you buy)

This rule is complete bollocks. You are allowed to make a backup (the proviso is, you have to make the backup yourself - you can't download someone elses backup). There is also no try before you buy rule - this is just what idiots put to try to protect themselves from potential legal issues of providing roms.

Sorry, but the other Guys are right, and you are not :p

btw, please please please, if you are going to post in the Project64 forum, please ensure it is relevant to the actual emulator. This question evidently is not.

In future, could you post in the correct forum? Thanks

[StarShade]

The legality issue is very zany...

You see, if Nintendo had their way, there'd be no way for you to play their games except with their system and the game in the slot.

And, as I've posted elsewhere, Nintendo absolutely HATES Gameshark.

[Knuckles]

And about that, did they know we have the roms that we don't have the original catridge a home? Did they go at your home and inspect your home and PC to see that?

Sorry for my bad english :(

[petronius79]

in the old days you had commercial games on floppy disks and you could copy and play many classic games for free in Commodore 64, Amiga, AtariST etc. Now you can burn CDs and soon DVDs and download ROM images from the Net. Mentality never changes :sly:

[Malcolm]

Ok guys heres the total truth behind emulators and roms.

Emulators are completely legal. All emulators do is interpret code from a source and translate that code into instructions that the host system can understand and process.

Now about ROMs. There is no 24 hours rule, this was made by the warez scene to encourage people to download roms and believe they they couldn't be charged if they only had the rom for 24 hours. Also copying any part of a rom is illegal. Ripping a rom is illegal. Owning a rom by having it on any madia (CD/Hard Disk/Blank N64 Cart) is illegal. The only legal way to own any rom is to have the cartrage. That doesn't mean its ok for you to have to rom on your computer if you own that same cart, the rom image is only legal if it is stored on the original game cart.

Hope this clears up the myth(s).

:)

[Eagle]

Originally posted by Malcolm
Ok guys heres the total truth behind emulators and roms.

Emulators are completely legal. All emulators do is interpret code from a source and translate that code into instructions that the host system can understand and process.

Now about ROMs. There is no 24 hours rule, this was made by the warez scene to encourage people to download roms and believe they they couldn't be charged if they only had the rom for 24 hours. Also copying any part of a rom is illegal. Ripping a rom is illegal. Owning a rom by having it on any madia (CD/Hard Disk/Blank N64 Cart) is illegal. The only legal way to own any rom is to have the cartrage. That doesn't mean its ok for you to have to rom on your computer if you own that same cart, the rom image is only legal if it is stored on the original game cart.

Hope this clears up the myth(s).

:)

Exactly. ROMs are illegal period, no matter what circumstances are about it. Anyone who tells you otherwise is either mislead or lying. You cannot legally posses any copy of a cartridge if you own it or do not. We cannot stress this enough as this is the reason we dont allow rom posts on this forum. It may sound like were all repeating each other but there will be some people that see this post and still ask, but if X and Y and Z are true than it is legal right? The answer will always be NO.

[FAR]

anyway, I would like to see Mario Sunshine on my hard disk.

[Gent]

:sleepy: Wrong Place
/moving

[13rian]

Where is the proof that roms are illegal? (post links to legal precedence cases)

How do you know that the same law applys in every country?

Also, Nintendo is a corrupt company that has been ripping us off since the early 1990s, they where recently fined €149 million for this, so why should we respect their copyrights if they have been screwing us for years?

[vampireuk]

They are illegal, end of story.

[13rian]

So you cant find any proof?

I'll assume they are fine and legal until then, end of story.

[AlphaWolf]

Actualy I don't think thats entirely true, you are legaly allowed to create a backup of any software you own. You just can't use both copies simultaneously. Meaning you can rip a rom to your PC, but you can't play it on an emulator whilst somebody else in your house is playing it on a console at the same time. At least in the US anyways, thats what fair use laws permit, and one reason why hardware used to rip roms isn't illegal to own.

However, you are correct about not being able to download roms from the internet, that is completely illegal in any sense, because you are supposed to make your own backup, as the one you download isn't necessarily the same as your origional (I am not entirely sure on this though, a 1:1 copy of your origional *may* be legal to download, I would have to check on that, however I do know that its illegal to openly distribute roms). And also I have no idea where the 24 hour rule came into play, because thats pure BS.

[vampireuk]

Quite frankly you can think whatever you like. As long as you realise that they are viewed as illegal here.

[AlphaWolf]

Again though I am not entirely sure, because if its a 1:1 copy of what you own (and remember, not all games are exactly the same, there are different versions of roms, so you need to make this determination, as if it varies slightly from your origional, it IS illegal), you are legaly allowed to have it, just I know its completely illegal to openly distribute (upload) roms on the internet. Whether or not you are allowed to download a copy of what you already own is something I am very uncertain of. I would venture to guess that they would have something like a "fruit of a poisonous tree" system going on, to where if the upload was illegal to begin with, then the download is illegal too.

[vampireuk]

I believe its like everything else. If you have a "backup" copy it has to be your own copy and not someone elses. :)

[blizz]

here's a link to the EmuFAQ, it was last updated in 2000 but the legal situation hasn't really changed a great deal since then

http://www.eidolons-inn.de/emufaq2000/

[AlphaWolf]

Originally posted by vampireuk
I believe its like everything else. If you have a "backup" copy it has to be your own copy and not someone elses. :)

Technicaly yes, but then if you have a personal use exact copy (backup) of something you own, whether you made it or not, then you are not in violation of anybody's copyrights.

Originally posted by blizz
here's a link to the EmuFAQ, it was last updated in 2000 but the legal situation hasn't really changed a great deal since then

http://www.eidolons-inn.de/emufaq2000/

Is it just me, or is the fat guy in that picture crying?

[sytaylor]

Originally posted by vampireuk
They are illegal, end of story.

no its not


Now about ROMs. There is no 24 hours rule, this was made by the warez scene to encourage people to download roms and believe they they couldn't be charged if they only had the rom for 24 hours. Also copying any part of a rom is illegal. Ripping a rom is illegal. Owning a rom by having it on any madia (CD/Hard Disk/Blank N64 Cart) is illegal. The only legal way to own any rom is to have the cartrage. That doesn't mean its ok for you to have to rom on your computer if you own that same cart, the rom image is only legal if it is stored on the original game cart.


thats the end of the story

[vampireuk]

your just moody:P

the rom image is only legal if it is stored on the original game cart.

I think that speaks for itself;)

[Malcolm]

Also a few posts up some one said that it’s Ok because you’re aloud to copy software for a hard copy just in case your original is damaged. Here’s the story for that.

When you buy software you aren’t actually buying the software. You’re buying a licence to use that software. Now, you can make as many copies of the software you wish, it is also, in theory, legal for you to distribute those copies. When it becomes piracy is when you give out your CD key and/or licence number. Now this is only the case for licences for a primary home type user. If your wondering why you can barrow a version of Microsoft Word from your college/university this is because the own multi-user licences, this is also true about company licences.

Getting back to roms...

The rule stated above does not comply with video game cartages, while it does apply to games on CD/DVD (IE: DC, PSX, GC, PS2. XBox). Why it doesn't work with carts is because it is a hardware CMOS chip on your cartage that stores the game information, and is not actually considered software. BUT it does work in the case of CD/DVD media because the information on the disks are in binary or ASCII format and are considered software, but because they don't contain a licence, you are only aloud to have 1 copy of the media and the original, and your not aloud to distribute the copies.

I hope this clears some more stuff up :)

[Eagle]

Originally posted by Malcolm
Also a few posts up some one said that it’s Ok because you’re aloud to copy software for a hard copy just in case your original is damaged. Here’s the story for that.

When you buy software you aren’t actually buying the software. You’re buying a licence to use that software. Now, you can make as many copies of the software you wish, it is also, in theory, legal for you to distribute those copies. When it becomes piracy is when you give out your CD key and/or licence number. Now this is only the case for licences for a primary home type user. If your wondering why you can barrow a version of Microsoft Word from your college/university this is because the own multi-user licences, this is also true about company licences.


Yes this is correct. My school sells students copies of an original Windows/Visual Studio/Office CD for $5 a cd (so visual studio would be about $25) These are copied CDs, however due to a special with Microsoft called the MSDNAA program, the school is allowed to do this and they provide you with a unique white or yellow CD key sticker. So, yes it is legal to copy a cd as long as you own a legal license. However, not all software comes with a CD key and in this case, you can not copy the CD and distribute it.

[AlphaWolf]

Originally posted by Malcolm

The rule stated above does not comply with video game cartages

I hate to sound like an ass, but thats incorrect, it does. Code in the rom IS copyrighted material, be it software, information, or whatever you want to call it, the only difference here is the medium its stored on. Just because something is stored on a different medium doesn't change the applicability of the copyright laws. I don't know how things are run in Canada, but in the US and most of the EU countries, they don't have separate rules for whether the medium is a CD, a VHS tape, a cassette tape, plain paper, vinyl, or in our spefic case, solid state storage, its all under the same law here.

Originally posted by Malcolm

the information on the disks are in binary or ASCII format

same thing for solid state ROM chips :P

Again, it is perfectly legal to dump your own cartridges to a file on your PC, just so long as its for your own personal use, meaning you can't give it to anybody else, unless you destroy the other copy.

[petronius79]

If my old NES gets damaged will Nintendo now provide support for it? Can you buy anywhere NES games officially from stores and not second hand? If there is no profit from Nintendo then why do they yell about ROMS? If they are illegal then bring the NES and the SNES back to the stores.

Please dont share the manager's hypocrisy. They want to get profit from us. Their profit rises constantly so they can be happy that playing old ROM games wont damage their profits. And anyway laws are made to be broken. And if laws are made for the corporation's profits and now for our profit then screw the rules.

[AlphaWolf]

Well see the thing with that is they believe they might be able to sell that title again later - such things have happened, like when activision sells their classic atari game packs, which have 15 or so old atari games each.

If its their copyright, they consider it an asset, and corporations being the way they are, want to maximize profit, if letting that go public domain serves even ANY potential for harming profits in the future, then they will not let it, unless it can potentialy bring some sort of higher return in profits than what they would see losing.

BTW, thanks to disney's lobying, copyrights now last 95 years instead of 75 before manditarily going public domain, and they are even trying to push them to longer durations too. That means it will be that much longer before you realy can play these copied games legaly.

[petronius79]

like I said: screw them and download whatever you like. Just watch for viruses and porn dial ups :D