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[marzxbarz]

That's not really true. ROMs are legal under certain provisions (Section 117 of the US Copyright Law) http://www.gameboy-advance.net/site/exclusive_rights.htm
What is true, however, is that using the actual ROM to play the game is illegal.

[Devil_Spawn]

is this all the same in the UK?

[Perseid]

is this all the same in the UK?

In general, yes. In specifics, no. You would have to look up the laws for the UK.

[Gleasonator]

That's not really true. ROMs are legal under certain provisions (Section 117 of the US Copyright Law) http://www.gameboy-advance.net/site/exclusive_rights.htm
What is true, however, is that using the actual ROM to play the game is illegal.

THAT's gonna be a big help. Thanks.

[ihopeyoudie2]

My understanding is ROM's are only legal if you backup the game yourself using your own methods. D/Ling roms from a site does not constitute a backup of your own game and is thus illegal. So if you have your own way to backup games your ok according to the law. Although with DMCA rules now it might be different.

I know people don't want to hear it but this is completely true.


its not even legal to download them for 24 hours, that's an urban myth. the corporations have legal departments to control how people get their games, and for some pretty good reasons like price and quality control. but the underlying theme of any corporation is to make as much money as you can squeeze out of people, and roms hurt their bottom line. they're not ready to go to war with roms although they do occasionally shut down a site, instead they've been keeping roms from being legalized for years and now they're using their new system to make a very big profit off of these roms.

they don't want to start a war on roms because they're too abundant to fight now. although they'd completely have the law on their side and it'd be napster all over again. why don't they do it? because if Nintendo did... they'd only win legally and their sales would more than likely take a big hit from a loss in loyal consumers... which isn't good when they’re competing with other systems.


What is legal? Making and using homebrew. Downloading Nintendo games that copyright has expired on (they play on homebrew)... and not much else.

[bitblt]

What is legal? Making and using homebrew. Downloading Nintendo games that copyright has expired on (they play on homebrew)... and not much else.

Nope. Even running DS hombrew is technically illegal. If you run unencrypted code on the DS it breaks the DMCA.

The oldest legacy computer systems/software used today are still less than 40 years old. The copyright on them will not expire in the United States and Europe until about 2030.

For more information about software piracy . . .
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pirated_software

[ihopeyoudie2]

Jeeze. damn corporations, damn lawyers.

Anyone know how long before the copyright expires on Video Games?

[ShadowFalls]

By the time they expire, you will be more worried about which nursing home to say in.