Why not change the laws?

[7iven8Nine]

Hey, I'm a fellow Temper who is fed up with the idea that we can't play old games for discontinued systems like Atari and so on. I understand developers keep the copyright for so long so people don't recreate the game and make profit off of it. But people still do and get away with it. I also understand that they keep the copyright to secure the market and stop piracy. But it still happens. So, why not change the legality of downloading roms? I think that they should be able to keep the copyright for as long as it is now(75 years), but after a period of 1-5 years after the game and system have been discontinued, we should be able to download the game freely without worry of potential penalties. whether we actually own the game or not. As far as I know, after the initial sale from the developer to the retailer and royalties from the sale of retailer to consumer, the developer doesn't make money. Second hand sale profits go directly to the second hand store. Allowing the download of roms would not only stop people from becoming "Pirates", but also allow future generations to enjoy the history of gaming first hand instead of just reading about it. Now, some will argue that you can play the rom in-browser through government approved libraries, but it is not always a possibility given the need for a constant, good internet connection. I want to know everyone's thoughts on this and also how to improve this in order to potentially change status of the current copyright exemptions.

:Edit
Mods, could you please move this to the console and game discussions in the NDS forum.

 

[BORTZ]

but after a period of 1 or 2 months after the game and system have been discontinued, we should be able to download the game freely without worry of potential penalties.

Then why would anyone buy the games while the system is being produced?

 

[smileyhead]

I think that they should be able to keep the copyright for as long as it is now(75 years), but after a period of 1 or 2 months after the game and system have been discontinued, we should be able to download the game freely without worry of potential penalties.

That period is way too tiny in my opinion. And even if the console itself stops being manufactured, the games don't. (Correct me if I'm wrong.)
So, if something like this would happen, it would be much more plausible that the period would be 1 or 2, maybe even 5, or more years.

 

[7iven8Nine]

Then why would anyone buy the games while the system is being produced?

The game and system both have to discontinued for this to take effect. Also they would buy the games for collector purposes or to play it as it comes out on the specified system. The market of new games would still be a good market as it would have to be bought in order to create a rom. The developer would not be responsible for the creation of the rom, that would be up to the community. This is just a rough idea, if anyone can come up with a better solution, post it.

 

[ned]

75 years is way too long, stuff should be in the free public domain after 15 years imo

 

[7iven8Nine]

That period is way too tiny in my opinion. And even if the console itself stops being manufactured, the games don't. (Correct me if I'm wrong.)
So, if something like this would happen, it would be much more plausible that the period would be 1 or 2, maybe even 5, or more years.

That would probably be better considering it would be more of a historical item at that point.

--------------------- MERGED ---------------------------

75 years is way too long, stuff should be in the free public domain after 15 years imo

The copyright is only in place to stop people from recreating the game within a reasonable time frame where it would still be worth something outside of nostalgia. But I believe that any game that isn't sold from the first retailer, after a reasonable amount of time, should be in a public domain while still carrying copyright to protect the developer.