Would this be legal?

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Deleted member 19858

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What if I had a original NES system and owned Super Mario Bros. Then I bought a GBA and a programable cartridge (if such a thing exists, I dont know) then got a NES emulator and the ROM. Would it be legal to play that game on the GBA since I already own the original game? I think it doesnt make much sense to have to buy the same exact game 2 times for 2 different systems.
 
Let me preface this by saying that I'm certainly not an expert. That said, I'm pretty sure that if you actually own the original game and system, it's fine. In fact, I'm not even positive that you need to own the NES, just the game.
 
I agree with FireSermon that the actual console wouldnt be necessary either correct?
 
Yes. When you purchase a game, book, cd or whatever, you are purchasing the copywrites to it. Once you buy it, you can have backups as much as you want....the problem lies in if its stolen, you have no proof unless you still have the box. My cd's were stolen, but i kept the cases, and downloaded the mp3's guilt free because it is quite legal.
 
Hang on. The issue of ROMs, backups and legality is a total legal mess.
  • ROM images are legal if purchased from an authorized source.
  • ROM images are legal if the copyright has lapsed and is in the public domain.
  • ROM backups are legal as long as you own (and continue to own) the original.
  • Music backups are legal as long as you own (and continue to own) the original.
  • Game backups are legal as long as you own (and continue to own) the original.
  • Movie backups are legal as long as you own (and continue to own) the original.
  • Breaking encryption in order to make a backup is legal only if the original format is no longer available for play or execution.
All this comes from the Library of Congress. Now this is the law by the letter. DDRDrunkenMaster is "technically" wrong by having a backup of his CDs in MP3 format, because the MP3s weren't made from his cds. (Silly isn't it? MP3.com lost a huge court case based on that fact.) "Technically" you're skirting the DMCA by hacking the no-CD protection on your latest game, even though you own the original.

I'm not making any assumptions on how this would play out in court. In fact, I don't know of any cases where someone was even brought to trial on making a legitimate backup for personal use but didn't follow a technicality.
 
SnowPunk98 said:
What if I had a original NES system and owned Super Mario Bros. Then I bought a GBA and a programable cartridge (if such a thing exists, I dont know) then got a NES emulator and the ROM. Would it be legal to play that game on the GBA since I already own the original game? I think it doesnt make much sense to have to buy the same exact game 2 times for 2 different systems.
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Going by the above rules, this is legal to do because:

1) The NES is an outdated format.
2) You own the original ROM.

You are in the total free and clear on this issue. No copyright or legal laws are being broken.
 
Why not save yourself all the trouble and get this ?
 
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Well Nintendo says its illegale but I dont agree with their website or what it says. They bring up good points but they are using the legal terms to their advantage and I dont think they are reading them correctly. For example...

Isn't it Okay to Download Nintendo ROMs for Games that are No Longer Distributed in the Stores or Commercially Exploited? Aren't They Considered "Public Domain"?

No, the current availability of a game in stores is irrelevant as to its copyright status. Copyrights do not enter the public domain just because they are no longer commercially exploited or widely available. Therefore, the copyrights of games are valid even if the games are not found on store shelves, and using, copying and/or distributing those games is a copyright infringement.
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What WOULD be considered public domain then? There ARE some games IMO that are impossible to find which I think would put them into the public domain.
 
I'm not sure that Nintendo's feelings about this are correct as the legality, but I have done what the original poster is asking to do. I have played the original Zelda on my GBA via an NES emulator. I even went out and purchased Zelda before getting the emulator just so I could feel like I was being legit. Nintendo doesn't think I am legit, but I don't understand why not. They make their claim based on what appears to be their opinion of ROMs, not the actual law. But hey, I could be wrong.

RagManX
 
|MaguS| said:
Yes it is illegal.[/url]
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Go back and read that carefully. If you own a cartridge and use that cartridge to make a backup ROM or to play on an emulator, that is legal.

What Nintendo is saying is that you can't own a cartridge and download another ROM off the Internet to use. That is illegal. US courts have established that backups have to come from the material that you own, and not from another source.

From the what the original poster said, it would be very legal and within his rights.
 
So what I would have to do in this scenerio is take my original Super Mario Bros get the hardware to dump the ROM to an image, put that image on a flash cartridge, and play that one.

Why is it you cant download the same exact ROM if it is indeed the exact same ROM :rolleyes:
 
Mister Natural said:
Why not save yourself all the trouble and get this ?
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thats all well and good but what if I wanna play a NES game that isnt on the GBA
 
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Copyright law is on the side of the entity that copyrighted the material not the user.

In this case regardless of what you thought

A copyright is good for 75 years. Even if the item is not being exploited or sold anymore by said company. They STILL hold that copyright. Meaning Super mario bro is still a Nintendo copyright and as such rightfully owned by them.

Does this make Sega genesis rom public domain?. No don't be ridiculous. They are still alive and kicking and are still they rightful copyright holders of the titles associated with the dreamcast, genesis and all other of thier consoles. unless the rom was produced right from the get go as public domain. It still has a copyright and will probably have one for a long time.

Folks you guys are reading way to much into it. It is there in black and white. Pay attention to the detail.

ROM images are legal if purchased from an authorized source.
ROM images are legal if the copyright has lapsed (75 years, no game is that old!) and is in the public domain.
ROM backups are legal as long as you own (and continue to own) the original.
Music backups are legal as long as you own (and continue to own) the original.
Game backups are legal as long as you own (and continue to own) the original.
Movie backups are legal as long as you own (and continue to own) the original.
Breaking encryption in order to make a backup is legal only if the original format is no longer available for play or execution.
 
SnowPunk98 said:
thats all well and good but what if I wanna play a NES game that isnt on the GBA
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you just answered your own question.

Ninetdo never made an emulator. Meaning to pay that NES game. You need a ....

That right A NES. Otherwise no matter how you cook it, cut it, bury it, it is considered an infringement on Nintendo's copyright. It is very simple.
 
SO then I would either need to play it on the NES, which means it would not be portable in some cases. Or I could rip the original media to a ROM and play it.
 
SnowPunk98 said:
Why is it you cant download the same exact ROM if it is indeed the exact same ROM :rolleyes:
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Yes, it's very stupid. The law doesn't make a distinction between your ROM and someone else's ROM. The law just sees that you copied your friends ROM instead of yours.

The MP3.com case for those who don't remember revolved around the myMP3 service that they offered. The way it worked is you sign up for the free service, sign in and insert a CD you own. MP3.com would then read the unique signature and then make available the MP3s of that album available to you. The idea was that you could listen to your CDs at work or home or where there was a Internet connection.

Problem was (after the RIAA took them to court) that the law saw it as people using MP3.com's MP3 instead of a MP3 created directly from that CD. MP3.com had to shut down it's service. It was frustrating to me because I used it all the time.

figgie said:
A copyright is good for 75 years. Even if the item is not being exploited or sold anymore by said company. They STILL hold that copyright.
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So true. Don't confuse copyright with trademark. A company can lose their trademark if they decide not to enforce it. That isn't true of copyright. It can be enforced at anytime. Don't let scrupulous abandonware sites tell you otherwise. Just because a game is old doesn't mean that they'll come after you. Good abandonware sites get written permission to offer old games online from the publisher.

figgie said:
That right A NES. Otherwise no matter how you cook it, cut it, bury it, it is considered an infringement on Nintendo's copyright. It is very simple.
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Ah, if it were only were that simple. Emulators can be a sticky wicket as well. It depends on how they were designed and created. You can create emulators for just about anything, as long as you don't use any proprietary code or images in doing so. For instance, there's a couple of awesome Amiga emulators but they require the original ROM to run. There are several Nintendo, Atari, Intellivision and Sega emulators available that are legal. Emulators are legal provided the following rules are obeyed:
  • No copy protection on the console unit was broken to discover a functionality.
  • The ROM BIOS of the console unit was not reverse engineered to learn about the unit. (BIOS is copyrighted.)
Bleem! won an important legal case when their Playstation emulator was found to be not to violate any laws.
 
Let me just say the news that downloading MP3's of my stolen cd's is illegal makes me sad....(not to say i wont do it because damnit i payed for them once, and you cant prove they didnt come from my cd's)
 
Who the fuck cares if you download or play a cracked, emulated or whatever (S)NES Game? Is there anybody who would complain about it? I mean those games are very old..?
 
big-homer said:
Who the fuck cares if you download or play a cracked, emulated or whatever (S)NES Game? Is there anybody who would complain about it? I mean those games are very old..?
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I couldn't agree more. Who really cares if it is legal or not? How would you ever get caught if it wasn't? If it were me, I would just do it and not worry about the legalities of it all...
 
from the rules:

(15) Observe all COPYRIGHT LAWS, TOS's and NDA's when posting copyrighted material. If the material belongs to someone else, credit the original author. Do not post messages that violate Federal, State, or Local laws which include, but are not limited to, anything that violates a copyright, trademark, patent, trade secret, or is bound by NDA (Non-Disclosure Agreement).

(18) You will not discuss, suggest, engage, or encourage any ILLEGAL ACTIVITIES. Links provided to locations that deal with any such activity are also expressly forbidden.

http://hardforum.com/announcement.php?f=75

so feel free to talk about emulation, but don't post links to rom sites
 
big-homer said:
@ digilink

Hey me too...who the fuck cares about an fucking Snes game hahahha
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well

you are very aware that anytime you download a rom. That website has stats. Part of those stats is the ip address that got it. How you think RIAA has sued the hell out of everyone up to this day?? Hell even routers are now logging traffic to a db server or some RAS type server.

Who the fuck cares? I sure don't but then again i don't download "ROMZ".

They might be old but it still is not any more RIGHT for you to literally steal their games.

Not sure why Nintendo does not capitalize on the "ROMZ". Now if Nintendo gave permission and sold the games for .99 or some silly crap. They would make hand over fist money. Hell it is like the 1.99 bin that I see at EB and gamestop.
 
I know they already have classic games such as Mario, Zelda, and Excitebike however I was just using Mario as an example because they have only released a few.
 
SnowPunk98 said:
I know they already have classic games such as Mario, Zelda, and Excitebike however I was just using Mario as an example because they have only released a few.
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well i know kung fu master was a big game and so was the dragonwarrior series... just give them time. As for metriod...that what Metriod zero mission is. :)
 
first off, Copyright is life of the ORIGINAL copyright holder plus 75 years. No thanks to Sonny Bono. Good ridence. One of the loophole technicalities in this is that if the original copyright owner is a corporation, it stays copyright until that company dissolves, dies or goes out of business plus the 75 years. (which can theoretically be hundreds to thousands of years! theoretically.)


yahda! yahda! yahda! All the technicalities on paper. Now how about looking at from the perspective of REALITY. People still want to play the old games that they grew up with but are no longer supported, manufactured, marketed, sold and/or commercially exploitable. The demands for them are few and unprofitable so they refuse to answer those demands. What is the remaining path? Downloading of emulators and ROMs.

i.e. "Ok Nintendo, you leave me no choice. But remeber this, it is you [nintendo] who made me decide to take this illegal path to obtain your old games because you refused to provide them for me."

The other sad thing is that holding copyrights for so long can cause things to fall into the abyss of time and be lost forever. These emulator programmers and ROM data extractors are IMO vigellanties who are willing to cross the legal boundaries for the better good of video game preservation. Once again, IMO. This is also true with PC games and arcade games. Unlike copyrights for music, movies and literature, these are technological copyrights in which the items can become obsolete faster and die faster than the formerly mentioned ones.

I love my old DOS games but the magnetic signature on some of the diskettes has degraded to the point that the floppy drives are unable to see the data. So I guess I'll go buy another copy...Wait a minute! It's not sold or manufactured anymore! Damn! What am I to do now? Ah! I'll just go find it on the internet. Wait a minute! Thats illegal. But what other choice do I have? Well, I bought the original copy so I think I deserve the right to download another copy.

yes we make the final decission to download it, but what other option do they leave us with.

The companies do have a right to try to preserve their art. I'd hate to release my copyright and late find someone profiting off my old ideas. So why don't they declare it freeware. They still hold the copyrights and can sue if someone tries to profit off their works.

And in the posts after mine, I'm sure there will be someone who says but its illegal! Pure and simple. yeah, yeah, yeah. Why don't you try looking at the big picture. Yes thats right, REALITY you narrow-minded, tunnel-visioned, self-centered, greedy, hoarding &@($< @#&($-$*#(, #*%$)#(, &*$((@# , +_#&%$-(*#&$ copyright holding bastard!

Of course this is all [IMO]
 
Metallica_Band said:
BAH!!! Who's gonna stop you if it's illegal or not... :rolleyes: :p
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lmao

look at your own nick to see who put a big dampner on the MP3.

Who is going to stop MP3's from being downloaded and cap.. Metallicrap is that is who.
 
You know what??? Napster suked anyways...and Kazaa suked too cause of all their ad/spyware...And who cares if Kazaa Lite K++ is gone...there's still Kazaa Lite...Kazaa sued the K++ ppl anyways...Bit Torrent and eDonkey (and its relatives) are the big ones nowadays and they are much more popular/better than any of those other progs...

But what do I know...it's not like *I* actually use any of those progs myself...a little yellow bird flew by and told me this stuff ;) ;)

BTW...Metallica isn't pissed about mp3's getting spread around...they could care less...the thing that pissed them off is all the leakage af their music that wasn't even out on CD's yet...I mean come on...

let's say you are a painter...would you want ppl sneaking by your window and taking pix of your unfinished painting??? NO...I know I sure as hell wouldn't...

I would be pissed if someone took a pix of my unfinished modded case before I revealed it to the world...it's the unfinished stuff that pissed them off and I actually don't blame them...

And as for downloading progs/music off of p2p sites just to get the "full version" for free...Let's say someone created something to bypass and view (and maybe even post) in Kyle's new Gen. Mayhem section...it costs $5-$15 for a subscription...now would Kyle be pissed and the ppl that used the prog that allowed other ppl to bypass whatever just to get access to Kyle's new pay section??? I think he would...

That is all... :cool:
 
I had a rom burner from Japan that worked with my snes and used an external floppy drive it was pretty cool. Though I couldn't get it to work with my copy of SF2 it needed two floppies. I still have some of the old back up disks sitting in my garage.

And Metallica_band napster owned I could download any type of music. You could get stuff from an obscure hardcore show they had in Chicago or an mp3 of a band that played in NY. Napster never let me down.
 
Tron said:
I had a rom burner from Japan that worked with my snes and used an external floppy drive it was pretty cool. Though I couldn't get it to work with my copy of SF2 it needed two floppies. I still have some of the old back up disks sitting in my garage.

And Metallica_band napster owned I could download any type of music. You could get stuff from an obscure hardcore show they had in Chicago or an mp3 of a band that played in NY. Napster never let me down.
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you can get full high quality albums with ed2k...single mp3's can be found on Kazaa...Kazaa Lite K++ can still be downloaded from different sites...that would be the best to use...that is best for single mp3's...but that's about it from Kazaa since most of the rest of the stuff is risky...ed2k have forums and websites and stuff...just click on a link and start downloading...ed2k rules...at least that's what my pet bird says...anyone know if yellow birds taste good when baked??? This birdy is gonna get me in trouble... :p
 
I was talking about legal stuff. Lets tone that down a bit and get back on topic.
 
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