Legality of Emulators

[J.D]

I have a PC-Engine emulator on my laptop. I am going to ask some questions, so feel free to quote them when you answer them

1. From my understanding, emulators are legal, right?
2. If a game (rom) has lost it's copyright, is it legal to distribute, download, and play?
3. If the rom comes from a disk (PlayStation, Gamecube) then it is illegal to download?
4. Isn't illegal to emulate ALL Nintendo games that are on Nintendo systems?
5. By copyright, does that mean if a game has the word "Bomberman" or something like that which is still copyrighted on a game that has lost it's copyright, is it illegal to download?
6. Gimmie more info.

http://patpend.net/articles/legality.shtml

I read the link, still doesn't answer all of my questions.

 

[grossaffe]

I have a PC-Engine emulator on my laptop. I am going to ask some questions, so feel free to quote them when you answer them

1. From my understanding, emulators are legal, right?
2. If a game (rom) has lost it's copyright, is it legal to distribute, download, and play?
3. If the rom comes from a disk (PlayStation, Gamecube) then it is illegal to download?
4. Isn't illegal to emulate ALL Nintendo games that are on Nintendo systems?
5. By copyright, does that mean if a game has the word "Bomberman" or something like that which is still copyrighted on a game that has lost it's copyright, is it illegal to download?
6. Gimmie more info.

http://patpend.net/articles/legality.shtml

I read the link, still doesn't answer all of my questions.

1. Emulators are indeed legal as long as they do not use copy-written code. You'll see some emulators need the BIOS of the emulated system, downloading that BIOS off the internet is illegal. Ripping from your own system is legal.
2. If it is in the public domain, there shouldn't be any issues that I'm aware of. Don't know how long it takes for that to happen, though. I think because of Disney, things don't reach public domain for the life of the creator plus 70 years or so.
3. A disk isn't a ROM, its a disc. What you get from disks are Images, and what you get from Carts are ROM dumps. Both are illegal to download but legal to rip on your own.
4. No, if you rip the game yourself and own the copywrite to it, then it is legal.
5. The game itself is copywritten as well as any characters they may be copywritten.

Basically, the deal is rip it yourself and its legal.

 

[eurddrue]

They're 100% legal if you don't get caught

 

[nightwheel]

Maybe this will somewhat help: http://www.gp32x.com/board/index.php?showtopic=48329

 

[Kickback]

Abandonware is considered when the creator either goes bust, or stops caring about his game... lets take for example.

The Chaos Engine (thats Soldiers of Fortune to you), released on Megadrive, Amiga, SNES and PC. This game could be considered abandonware as The Chaos Engine has not had any new entries for 13 years, not to mention Bitmap Brothers haven't done any new games for ages.

Which is considered a gray area for some reason, downloading games that arent even for sale should be just fine.

 

[XCVG]

Emulators are legal.

As for roms, grey area. If you own the game, it's legal to download a backup or rip the game. If you don't own it, it's technically illegal. But chances are nobody really cares as long as it's a relatively old game. Also, to put it in perspective, lots of people use Limewire, P2P, and bittorrent to get stuff illegally and very few get caught and punished. And most people download stuff that's more likely to be cared about. Like movies and music.

 

[Harshboy]

Who cares if it's illegal?

If you aren't selling or distributing illegal files you won't get caught. Go pirate some games now

 

[PalmerTech]

For me, my view on ROMs is "Do what is moral". The laws are meant as a catch all, but as long as you stick to what you think is ethical, then your conscience will be fine, and rarely do people get prosecuted for doing ethical stuff, even if it is technically illegal. Case in point: when your local church/club/whatever has a group movie night, they are technically breaking the law by using a home copy of the video "For Public Display". It is even worse if you charge an admission.

But of course, nobody does anything about that.

 

[samjc3]

You'll see some emulators need the BIOS of the emulated system, downloading that BIOS off the internet is illegal.

not necessarily. some game systems bios's are available for free from the company. like sony. you can download their bios's from their website, so thats legal.

 

[grossaffe]

You'll see some emulators need the BIOS of the emulated system, downloading that BIOS off the internet is illegal.

not necessarily. some game systems bios's are available for free from the company. like sony. you can download their bios's from their website, so thats legal.

I thought I remembered the PS2 BIOS being a big issue when it came to PS2 emulators 'cause it was illegal to download. Maybe they changed or I just don't remember correctly.

 

[Twilight Wolf]

Um, what? I'm fairly sure Sony doesn't allow people to download their consoles' BIOS files from them. Are you sure you're not thinking of PSP firmware?

 

[samjc3]

Um, what? I'm fairly sure Sony doesn't allow people to download their consoles' BIOS files from them. Are you sure you're not thinking of PSP firmware?

nope. i needed the psone bios for the ipod touch emu, and i downloaded it strait from sony.

 

[PalmerTech]

Wait... REALLY?

I know there was a homebrew PS1 bios that was made by a company that was gonna release a for profit PS1 emu. Sony could not sue them off, so they just bought them with a flaxload of money.

 

[samjc3]

Wait... REALLY?

I know there was a homebrew PS1 bios that was made by a company that was gonna release a for profit PS1 emu. Sony could not sue them off, so they just bought them with a flaxload of money.

yup. i like the way sony operates. (sometimes )

 

[PalmerTech]

Can I have a link to the BIOS?

 

[J.D]

If I have bought a game off of VC, is it legal to download that rom?

 

[PalmerTech]

Nope! But it is ethical.

 

[J.D]

But I legally own the ROM, don't I? Now I wish I hadn't blown so much money on VC.

 

[PalmerTech]

You legally own YOUR rom, not one some random person on the net made from a real cart. To be legal, you need to rip the ROM from the VC game, which is very hard to do. And, that would break laws regarding bypassing copyright protection software.

Sorry, but just do it, nobody has EVER been sued. Like, no joke, NOBODY has ever been sued for downloading a ROM.

 

[J.D]

I better put on my Grey Hat! In my morals, if I own the game, I download it. BTW, how do you rip a ROM from a cartridge?