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Continuation of HAZE and ark-adr's legal conversation re: MAME, etc.

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DGP:

Haze,

On your recent point I would agree regarding profiting from it is a poor choice without legal permission from the property holders.

But as I said previously this entire process is a legal cluster :censored: , and to that I am sure you would agree..?

 :cheers:



Le Chuck:


--- Quote from: DGP on August 08, 2013, 07:18:25 pm ---
--- Quote from: Le Chuck on August 08, 2013, 06:40:13 pm ---Le Chuck's Wild America

--- End quote ---

You would be making a very misguided assumption if this was directed at me as I unfortunately have an entire family involved in the legal system, one of which specializes in copyright/patent law.  ;)


--- End quote ---

It wasn't, but since you put it out there...

Are you a lawyer or just related to some?  If your dad was a doctor would you be licensed to practice medicine?  What about if your wife was a Realtortm would you be selling houses on behalf of clients?  I'm a Soldier, my wife is married to a Soldier.  I would generally advise against her providing tactical advice on, say, mounted operations in urban terrain under the cover of darkness.  Just as I generally try not to give advice on international mergers and litigation even though my dad practiced for 45 years.  He's the lawyer, not me.   I tread on my own accomplishments. 

DGP:


--- Quote from: Le Chuck on August 08, 2013, 08:13:00 pm ---
--- Quote from: DGP on August 08, 2013, 07:18:25 pm ---
--- Quote from: Le Chuck on August 08, 2013, 06:40:13 pm ---Le Chuck's Wild America

--- End quote ---

You would be making a very misguided assumption if this was directed at me as I unfortunately have an entire family involved in the legal system, one of which specializes in copyright/patent law.  ;)


--- End quote ---

It wasn't, but since you put it out there...

Are you a lawyer or just related to some?  If your dad was a doctor would you be licensed to practice medicine?  What about if your wife was a Realtortm would you be selling houses on behalf of clients?  I'm a Soldier, my wife is married to a Soldier.  I would generally advise against her providing tactical advice on, say, mounted operations in urban terrain under the cover of darkness.  Just as I generally try not to give advice on international mergers and litigation even though my dad practiced for 45 years.  He's the lawyer, not me.   I tread on my own accomplishments.

--- End quote ---

I totally agree!

I am not practicing, the family member that I was talking about (copyright/patent) did read the thread(s) after I sent him the links to get his input and that was basically his response (in fewer words). He stated if the property holders so much as blinked that this would be an instant win for them (which I think we all know would be the obvious outcome). ;)

 :cheers:

jennifer:

   Ark, That does clear up a few things for me... So basicly then using the 60-1 for an auction is ok, it does happen and  it would be like buying a fake Rolex, And true it happens like all the time, But its not a good idea because It has the potential to give Mame, and Devs a black eye (IE: selling copyrighted games with Mame all over it.)...Personally I believe wholeheartedly in what people like Haze do, And have followed it from the very concept, Although I have found myself very confused and chagrined at the poor work of the on some of the documentations, Effectively turning me away shaking my head... Again, IMO.

McHale:

I'm amazed this thread went on this long and kind of amazed these discussions still take place.

Let's use FHMC Q*bert as an example.  There's only ONE person I'm aware of who has the LEGAL right to possess the ROMS - Warren Davis.  Not a SINGLE person here owned the original boards or ROMS.  The reason we have them is because he wanted others to enjoy a game that nobody would have a chance to play if he didn't release them.  He was fully aware of MAME and gave them to the MAME team so MAME users could enjoy it.  The nice side benefit is, if you have an original Q*Bert, you can burn 'em and throw 'em in.  He didn't do it for profit.  He did it to support the MAME cause - preservation. I believe a large number of prototypes became available the same way.

That being said, the ROMS are *NOT* in the public domain.  They are *STILL* under copyright protection.  And selling them is not only illegal, it's a HUGE knife in the back to a really cool programmer who probably could have made a ton of money selling his cab with the original ROMS.  Had he not released them to the MAME team, his original FHMC Q*Bert cab would be MORE rare than Marble Man 2 and probably more desirable.  But because he released them, anybody can burn the ROMS and make a FHMC cab. 

Some programmers are like Mr. Davis and enjoy sharing with fans (the free ROMS on the MAME site are a great example).  Others (Sega comes to mind) are always thinking about future sales so they aren't keen to lose potential future sales by having arcade games out there that they made no money on.  Personally, I can tell you what it's like to release something for free that was VERY popular only to have others sell it for profit - it sucks.  It sucks a lot.  Nothing will kill the MAME project faster than people selling ROMS or selling MAME cabs and "giving" the ROMS for free.  Believe it or not, I know a number of people who only have roms in their MAME cab for the games they legally own.  While it would be foolish to believe everybody is that honest/legal, it would be better for the project if more people were or at least appeared to be.

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