All ROMs are illegal

golden

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I have wondered this question for a very very long time and finally decided to ask about it. Why do people that live in the US think it's perfectly legal and fine to own a ROM/ISO image of a game that they own? It's not. It has been illegal to own any kind of game ROM/ISO since a court ruling in 1983 so anyone that has ROM/ISO images whether they own them or not and live in the US are just as liable under the law as a complete pirate. Why do you think people think it's completely legal and fine to own copies of games that they own? Are they just ignorant and don't know that they are breaking the law? I have met people that don't care if they are pirates or not but I have met people that try to justify that owning the game makes it 100% legal when it is in fact illegal. What's your take on this?

Proof:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ROM_image#Private_ownership
QUOTE said:
In the U.S. it has been illegal since 1983 for a user to create their own backups of video game ROMs onto other cartridges. This was decided in the court case of Atari v. JS&A. JS&A manufactured a "game backup" device that allowed users to dump their Atari ROMs onto a blank cartridge. JS&A argued that the archival rule allowed for this. The court disagreed, noting that ROM media was not subject to the same volatility as magnetic media (for which the law was created). Thus, not being so relatively vulnerable, ROMs were not applicable under section 17 USC 117(a)(2).

http://www.worldofspectrum.org/EmuFAQ2000/AppendixB.htm
QUOTEJS&A Group were the vendors of a cart dumper called the "PROM Blaster" for Atari 2600 videogames. It was a device designed to allow its operators to dump the object code from within the ROMs of an Atari 2600 videogame cartridge. Atari sued JS&A for contributory copyright infringement of its proprietary videogame software. JS&A argued that archival copying was permitted under copyright law (17 USC 117), so the purpose of a cart dumper constituted "substantial non-infringing use." The court found that a computer program embedded within a piece of hardware, such as the ROMs used within a typical videogame cartridge, cannot be reprogrammed or erased. As such, it was contained within a form of storage media designed to permanently preserve the program. JS&A's contention that cart dumps protected the actual cartridge against possible physical harm (and thus the program embedded inside) might also be applied to other forms of physical media, such as phonograph records and books. Since copyright law did not allow for this practice in regard to these and other such forms of physical media (photocopying a book, physically duplicating a phonograph record), they likewise did not apply to the practice of archiving computer programs embedded within a piece of hardware. The archival exception for computer software did not apply to programs stored within permanent storage media (in this case a videogame cartridge) because these forms of media are not subject to the sort of risks that the archival clause was designed to guard against. As a result, the court ruled that dumping a videogame cartridge for archival purposes is not covered by the archival clause of copyright law.
 

InuYasha

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This topic is pointless,people pirate for various reasons and don't care and whats even worse is people keep making topics like this on various forums trying to convert them or start a flame war,honestly if your an anti-pirate type then your on the wrong forum.....
 

Smuff

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Oh God, it's another Jehova's Witness of a thread....... knocking on "my door" and telling me how what I am doing is wrong, and I should behave in this way or that way.......

BOG OFF !!!!!

Go do your soul-searching somewhere else, and leave the rest of us hellbound pirates to collect kindling for the afterlife.............

Now to post a new topic........

"MURDER IS WRONG ? DO YOU NOT REALISE THAT, YOU STUPID IDIOT ?"
tongue.gif
 

FAST6191

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Just thought I would step in to say
step 1) Ignore all things wikipedia has to say about the law* and do a proper search.

*it would be for the best if this extended to most of science/engineering, technology, politics, geography and history. Seen as that just about covers ever area of human endeavour or otherwise it would probably just be safer to say ignore wikipedia.

Step 2) Copyright law is a huge mess, trying to understand it has caused serious injury/boredom to those that did.

Step 3) decide the only laws really worth considering are the laws of physics and enjoy a happy life.
 

paul3100

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yeah who cares tbh? not me!!!

Anyway if i owned a game legally and wanted the rom/iso of it for backup then F**K the law as i should be entitled to do as i with with what i own as long as i don't give it to anyone else! American law is dumb anyway lol

paul
 

purplesludge

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It is perfectly fine to own a rom/iso of a game I own. Just as it is to rip a copy of a cd/dvd. I am even allowed to make backup copies of my pc games for personal use.

Also lols at 1983 which is 26 years ago. Dumping atari games. It was probably illegal back then because you needed extra hardware. Lols at magnetic media. Cassette tapes really.
 

jesuschristmonke

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purplesludge said:
It is perfectly fine to own a rom/iso of a game I own. Just as it is to rip a copy of a cd/dvd. I am even allowed to make backup copies of my pc games for personal use.

Not so. Bypassing copy protections (remember, even DVDs have CSS) is a violation of the DMCA.

You can thank megawealthy corporate IP holders and the pliant Congress that agrees with them.
 

zidane_genome

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golden said:
Why do people that live in the US think it's perfectly legal and fine to own a ROM/ISO image of a game that they own?
Proof:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ROM_image#Private_ownership
QUOTE said:
In the U.S. it has been illegal since 1983 for a user to create their own backups of video game ROMs onto other cartridges.


You cannot put them onto OTHER CARTRIDGES!! This says nothing about putting them on a PC and using the raw binarys, or putting them on a console they were not meant to be on (XBOX+Emu, or Wii+Emu).

You need to actually read and understand what is meant. I can have a million ROMs, and as long as they are not on a cartridge that they would have normally been on, I'm safe. That means no GBA games on a GBA cart, no DS games on a DS cart.

And this ruling was because the microchips that contain the game weren't as fragile as magnetic tape games. I think the ruling will be modified if someone had the balls to do so due to CD/DVD's being very fragile, and even one scratch can leave a game worthless. I'd actually like to see someone sue a game manufacturer for a replacement disc... that would open up a whole new can of worms!
 

paul3100

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QUOTE said:
QUOTE(paul3100 @ Apr 18 2009, 08:27 AM) *
American law is dumb anyway lol

paul


Coming from a native of the country where it's illegal to photograph police? Or even put up a barbed wire fence on account of possibly injuring an intruder?

Yeah, UK law is brilliant in comparison.

Lol i new id get a reaction adding that little tit bit at the end!

The main reason behind that remark is that every american is allowed to own a GUN! Great idea that NOT!! and other reasons but this isn't the time.

Back on tipic then....
 

ether2802

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jesuschristmonkeyballs said:
paul3100 said:
American law is dumb anyway lol

paul

Coming from a native of the country where it's illegal to photograph police? Or even put up a barbed wire fence on account of possibly injuring an intruder?

Yeah, UK law is brilliant in comparison.

wtf.gif
is this for true..?? shit....and you call your countrys FREE...?? damn I rather stay in México where the freedom DOES EXIST..!! (of course it is a big mess here, but as long as we have money to buy beer - DVD's - and go to the theatre, no one cares the mess
tongue.gif
)
 

juggernaut911

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jesuschristmonkeyballs said:
paul3100 said:
The main reason behind that remark is that every american is allowed to own a GUN! Great idea that NOT!! and other reasons but this isn't the time.


Despite what the Telly says, more people have been killed in UK soccer riots than the average Americans gun.

OSHI! really?! and for such a gay sport, lolz

well, Obummer is trying to change the gun laws (2nd amendment) but rewriting the American Constitution is just unbelievably stupid of him. 4 months of him and he's already spend almost as much or more than Bush and barely made an effect... one of the payments was to pay for a rave party of a inauguration with Beyonce and racism.

ONTOPIC: well, I think the Copyright laws are really jacked up as stated before. There really is no clear answer, just the one the government can get you on.


@ether2802: well, now that all the Mexicans are flooding into the USA and screwing up crap, I guess you'll have less people to stuff with!
frown.gif
 

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