QUOTE(the_snipe @ Mar 26 2006, 07:47 PM)
nice work! I hope Atari is next!
i see the legal issues of roms and emulators a lot in here and over at digitpress.com. What I've learned is that it's ok to have the emulators and roms as long as the hardware or games are no longer readily available. This isn't "word of mouth" from a guy that knows a guy. this is straight from the DMCA of 1998. The Library of Congress amended the DMCA in 2003 to make an exemption for video games and computer software that was considered obsolete.
Here is a summary of the exemption from the US government's copyright website....
(3) Computer programs and video games distributed in formats that have become obsolete and which require the original media or hardware as a condition of access. A format shall be considered obsolete if the machine or system necessary to render perceptible a work stored in that format is no longer manufactured or is no longer reasonably available in the commercial marketplace.
I don't see Nintendo and Atari running out to prosecute us twenty-somethings for getting a Contra-itch every once in a while. The only question left to interpretation is who decides what is "reasonable available"? I don't see any Nintendo systems rolling off the assembly lines so I would assume you're safe to store them on your home PC.
Personally, I collect old games so chances are good that I own the game (several times over in some cases). I'm not trying to argue wether I'm for or against emus and roms. I would just like to know if anyone else has any hard information to refute the DMCA exemption.
Where did you find this in the DMCA? I'm searching through
http://www.copyright...lation/dmca.pdf but i don't see it anywhere. I did find it in
http://www.copyright...ommendation.pdf but this is just a recommendation for how to rule on these issues, I don't think it is law, at least not yet. But please, correct me if I'm wrong, and tell me where to find it.
edit*
-I did find the section that discusses this, sorry for the confusion:
http://www.copyright...atement_01.html lists the
"final rule that sets out four classes of works that will be subject to exemptions for the next three years from the statute's prohibition against circumvention of technology that effectively controls access to a copyrighted work. This is the second time that I have issued such a rule, which the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA) requires that I do every three years. These exemptions expire after three years, unless proponents prove their case once again."-It sounds like we do need to check and make sure this is still the case as it will expire this October unless it is renewed. The 2000 and 2003 rulings on this are listed at
http://www.copyright.gov/1201/ and the 2006 will no doubt be listed there eventually as well.
-But similar to what I stated below, I think as long as you fill your drive up with roms
before these exemptions expire then you are okay.
QUOTE(DaddyO21 @ Mar 26 2006, 09:09 PM)
The Library of Congress has recently granted copyright exemptions in the Digital Millenium Act to obsolete games. The exemption applies to games that require the original hardware as a condition of access, and if the game is no longer manufactured or reasonably available in the commercial marketplace. This means that old, unsupported PC, console and arcade games will now be legal to own (so your illegal copy of Mame roms are now legit). The only muddy side is if publishers consider their old games to be reasonably available and plan to release classic games as bundles or bonuses, then the copyright protection still stands.
Nintendo Revolution will run NES , SNES , N64 Gamecube and Revolution games , so that makes it illegal to have a copy of the game without owning the original one or buying it from the Revolution Marketplace.
I wonder if you fill your hard drive with NES, SNES, and N64 games
before they start coming out for the Revolution if you will be excused via ex post facto, it wasn't illegal when you originally stored them. Once you've downloaded all of the roms legally, you shouldn't be responsible for researching every day to make sure the roms aren't commerically available.
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Topic: Working Nes Emulator Through Mce! (no Sound) (Read 2452 times)