Here's the intresting part.
Any unauthorized copy of a computer program, regardless of the original or resultant media, can be considered a counterfeit copy under federal law. (US 15 CFR 1127, US 18 CFR 1030). The practice of dumping the videogame cartridges of a home videogame system by the average user is not justified under the backup proviso of copyright law (Atari v. JS&A Group, 1983), and this restriction also covers arcade videogames and any other ROM-derived formats as well (Tandy v. Personal Micro Computer, 1981). The one exception for ROM dumping is granted solely to bonafide developers and their associates (Sega v. Accolade and Nintendo v. Atari, 1992), with any resultant "intermediate copies" having exactly the same protections and restrictions as if they were the originals themselves. You, as the average user, do not have the right to dump a piece of computer code stored in ROM format for use with an emulator, as this is not considered to be justifiable as an operational adaptation due to the necessary change in media - all other forms of adaptation, including adaptation for use with an emulator, must be authorized by the copyright owner (US 17 CFR 106). You cannot use "fair use" to justify ROM dumping, as the courts have denied this venue to the average user due to the illegal nature of the resultant copies (Sega v. MAPHIA, 1994). You may not obtain intermediate copies from a developer for your personal use, as this voids the developer's protections under case law (Sega v. Accolade, 1992). As an additional note, current EULA language by practically all computer program developers utilizing some form of permanent storage media specifically forbids the practice of dumping their code from its original media, and they are justified in doing so under federal contract law (ProCD v. Ziedenberg, 1996). Any unauthorized "ROM" in the possession of the average user is considered to be at best an infringing copy of the program in question (MAI v. Peak, 1993) and at worst a counterfeit copy (US 15 CFR 1127, US 18 CFR 1030). In short, the average user may not own, obtain, use, or distribute any kind of "ROM" without the authorization of its copyright owner.
Abandonware is not legal, it's tolerated. The owning copyright companies own it for a long time. (reference to Sierra Online, or the Bitmap Brothers)
And freeware is not warez. (e.g.: your favorite emus).
