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All Emulation is Illegal
jvalenzu writes "Matt Matthews is at it again! The venerable owner of curmudgeongamer.com has posted his latest missive, All Emulation is Illegal." From the article: "Now, if this is how we interpret the law, then practically every use of a videogame system emulator is illegal. Even a user who dumps the contents of a videogame cartridge for an Atari 2600 game he owns to a ROM file cannot use that ROM file with an emulator unless the original's loss requires resorting to the archival copy. If true, then even my attempt to stay legal by buying games and only then using an emulator to play them is way out of bounds."
The article author hypothesises around an example where he owns a copy of a C-64 game, and whether or not it's legal to run said copy under emulation. He thinks this is illegal, due to the following US (I presume) legislation:
" (a) Making of Additional Copy or Adaptation by Owner of Copy.-- Notwithstanding the provisions of section 106, it is not an infringement for the owner of a copy of a computer program to make or authorize the making of another copy or adaptation of that computer program provided:
(1) that such a new copy or adaptation is created as an essential step in the utilization of the computer program in conjunction with a machine and that it is used in no other manner, or
(2) that such new copy or adaptation is for archival purposes only and that all archival copies are destroyed in the event that continued possession of the computer program should cease to be rightful.
The bold text is his emphasis.
He seems to have missed provision (1) entirely!
If you live under DMCA rule, just claim your C-64, your Datassette, or your 1541 floppydisk drive are broken...
Help savingAmigaOS and a free PowerPC market
Remember there isn't any world law, therefore only the country you reside in makes the rules for you. No one else.
Emulation is wrong. It hurts the industry. I mean, if everyone is downloading Skate or Die! for the Commodore 64, how will the developers make any money??
My personal belief is that if the respective game creator no longer makes money from my purchase of the game, I have no problem using an emulated version. Case in point: Let's say I want to play EVO, one of the only Super Nintendo RPG's I didn't buy when the system was new. Where do I get it? I can buy it used at Gamestop or GameCrazy, but Nintendo nor the publisher profits from that, just the huge corporate game company. I could buy it on eBay, but again, neither the developer nor publisher profits off of that, just the private seller and eBay. In cases such as this, it has no effect on the platform owner, the developer, or the publisher whether I download the emulated version or buy the copy used from someone else.
You're right. That is bullshit.
When you buy, for example, the Star Wars movies on DVD, you own the copy, i.e. the DVDs. No one owns the creative works; they're unownable. Lucasfilm (or someone) owns the copyright that pertains to the works.
Barring some actual contract (which doesn't appear to exist with regards to these movies) you own the copy absolutely as personal property.
This is inclusive of a right to use, but it is equally as unlimited and transferable a right as your right to use any piece of personal property.
The law may limit your use of it, but that doesn't diminish your ownership or alter the nature of the transaction by which you bought it. The law says I can't drive 100mph in a school zone, but I own my car. The law says I can't murder people with my kitchen knives, but I am the only person in the world with a property interest in them.
The law does say that you can't download the Star Wars movies, but that has nothing to do with your owning copies of them. Once the copyright expires on them, the law will not care any longer. Likewise, it will not care any longer as to what you do with the copies you bought.
If you were right -- you're not -- then it would continue to care, since you didn't magically get more rights.
I swear, I cannot figure out why the hell so many apparently intelligent people manage to overcomplicate and fuck up the very simple idea that when you buy stuff you own it.
I blame whatever asshole came up with EULAs. They're amazingly rare and totally at odds with how things operate by default. They're of dubious enforcibility and appear to have no real merit given copyright law as it stands. We really ought to ban them with only minor exceptions.
-- This and all my posts are in the public domain. I am a lawyer. I am not your lawyer, and this is not legal advice.