Is it copyright infringement to knowingly buy an unofficial cart?

[Oblongest]

I've Been wanting to play Mother 3 for a while. But I don't want to break the law, downloading the rom from online, while doing so.
Would buying an unofficial, english translation reproduction cart from ebay be copyright infringement?

 

[SylverReZ]

Would buying an unofficial, english translation reproduction cart from ebay be copyright infringement?

Not necessarily. The same said for buying modchips and flashcards, you won't be prosecuted for it.

 

[zoogie]

If this were the case every Gamestop location would have a cage built around it.

 

[Deleted member 571007]

Even if it were, you'd never see any repercussions from it.

 

[NinStar]

Yes it is. You don't have any option here since you don't want to break the "law".

 

[RAHelllord]

If you're really obsessed with not breaking the law then your only option is buy a Japanese cart, have it shipped to you, dump the ROM yourself via one of the many ways to do so, then patch the ROM yourself using the English fan translation.

Or move to a place where there is no copyright protection, then download or buy a flash cart with the patched game there.

 

[Oblongest]

Ugh. Copyrightlaw is so stupid. Thank you.

 

[impeeza]

Ugh. Copyrightlaw is so stupid. Thank you.

More over for a system not supported for big n making really illegal to play it

 

[KleinesSinchen]

This should be pretty obvious: Obtaining commercial software other than licensed from the rightsholder(s) is illegal. No matter if this is done by downloading a ROM or by buying a storage medium (bootleg cart – sometimes called reproduction as euphemism, bootleg CD, HDD full of retro games). Why should there be a difference to downloading?

The question if these kind of copyright laws make sense, or if pirating old games not for sale anymore hurt anyone are in principle valid. But they don't change the law. A seller has to fear more than a buyer since they enriching themselves via illegal means (and committing fraud in case the bootlegs are marketed as original).

You have to work this out with your conscience. If you want Mother 3 and not break the law, there is currently only one option (since eShop went down, else there was Japanese Wii U):

Spoiler: This one

It is much better than cheap bootlegs anyway. No idea if the illegal sellers bothered to even update the translation to the latest version.

 

[hippy dave]

The important lesson to learn from all this is that laws are stupid and should be ignored.

 

[duwen]

It's a tough one... but imo you should never pay for piracy - which obviously includes 'reproduction' carts. Even buying the original Japanese release is kind of in a gray area, as you're technically buying pre-owned at this point, so the original publisher isn't receiving your payment (they were 'paid' from the original sale).
With all that in mind, in terms of morality, downloading an English patched rom freely from the internet is preferable to seeing anyone profit from piracy via the production of bootleg/repros imo.

 

[KleinesSinchen]

Even buying the original Japanese release is kind of in a gray area as you're technically buying pre-owned at this point, so the original publisher isn't receiving your payment (they were 'paid' from the original sale).

That is what publishers wish, but the used market is perfectly legal. Neither importing (cross region) nor selling used software is illegal. Some publishers tried to push shady stuff like that into their "You clicked on accept, so everything is valid!" EULA… and learned a valuable lesson the hard way:

Law > EULA​

Microsoft got themselves a bloody nose in court by trying to pull off that stunt (so they went ahead and made it harder to impossible to transfer licenses on technical level starting with Win 8.0)

Rightsholder gave out a license. This is (was) usually tied to the original medium (GBA cart in this case). You can sell the valid license without the rightsholder being able to do anything about it. Here in Germany I'm also allowed to create a backup copy (which cannot be forbidden by EULA although they try all the time) of any software "if this is needed to ensure future usability", which means the license won't expire if the original cart breaks.

This is exactly what I did: Import the Japanese GBA game, dump it with a DS Lite and apply the English patch. It is hard to find the original right now. For whatever reason eBay is tolerating bootlegs systematically (although forbidding in eBay terms of service and reports get ignored).

The "retro" gaming market being ruined by inflated prices is never going away, which is a limit on what you can and should buy legally. Although legal, I would advise against paying inflated prices for decades old "retro" stuff – it is supporting greedy people.

but imo you should never pay for piracy - which obviously includes 'reproduction' carts.

Fully agreed. Don't support commercial piracy. If the piracy market vanishes, they lose some arguments against homebrew/CFW. Supporting commercial piracy is a disservice to homebrew communities and it will be used as argument against free access on devices we payed for.

 

[duwen]

That is what publishers wish, but the used market is perfectly legal. Neither importing (cross region) nor selling used software is illegal.

Yes, but I only raise the issue to point out that whether you legitimately purchase a pre-owned product or a bootleg product, the original publisher doesn't see any of that money... at which point it's a case of whether you're happier giving your money to a bootlegger or a reseller (ignoring the 'collector' PoV).

 

[Tomato123]

There is a saying that I like to bring up when it comes to downloading ROMs.
"If a tree falls in a forest, and there’s no one around to hear it, does it make a sound?"

Most of the sites where ROMs are uploaded to are usually not monitored by ISPs (at least here in the UK, not sure about US). Even if they were, the ROMs are tiny so a free VPN would be enough to get around that. No one would ever even know it was downloaded is my point.

If it's a moral issue for you, then why were you ok with buying a bootleg cart? The people making those carts likely just downloaded the ROM from the internet so you're doing nothing but creating a middleman who collects your money for no real benefit. Not like that money goes back into Nintendo's pocket.

The only way to have a totaly clean conscience with this would be to import an NTSC-J cart so you can dump it and patch it yourself.

 

[BETA215]

I remember reading people saying that even dumping your own cartridges could be illegal. Like, you're just given the license to play that game in that specific storage medium and nothing else.
So if that's right, the only 'legal' way to play Mother 3 is using the official cartridge and playing it in Japanese.