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Some arcade legality questions
Unstupid:
--- Quote from: Nullface on February 04, 2014, 12:08:23 am --- Say I made my own cabinet and put Street Fighter II inside of it and took quarters as credits, is this not legal? I am in the United States.
--- End quote ---
It's funny you should use Street Fighter II as an example because the original Street Fighter II - World Warrior boards never had an original cabinet.
Generic Eric:
IANAL
Case 1:
Bootleg board.
Jurisdiction: Federal, international who knows
Case 2:
Operating any gaming machine.
Jurisdiction: State, perhaps city/county
For my state, there was no block on the operator license form to identify if the game was a pool table, video game, skeeball or pinball game let alone a block to identify what was running inside.
Of note:
In your area, you may be required to have a sales tax permit, operators license, location license, pay per machine. Annual renewal fees may apply.
My take away after looking for my state is that there is no way to identify on the form whether it is freeplay or not.fact If you don't give the man his cut, he is going to take you to the cleaners. conjecture The only way I see a business having these is as a loss to attract customer. informed opinion
I don't know what the law was before arcades got big, but no wonder they aren't now.
amendonz:
---fudgesicle--- the police.
Mr_Numbers:
--- Quote from: Nullface on February 04, 2014, 12:08:23 am ---So if multicades are illegal to profit from because they are unlicensed (bootlegs), then is it illegal to build your own cabinet but have it play legit JAMMA games inside for profit or do you need the original cabinet due to advertising policies or something? Say I made my own cabinet and put Street Fighter II inside of it and took quarters as credits, is this not legal? I am in the United States.
--- End quote ---
The MAME machine is 100% illegal no if and or buts about it (in the USA) irregardless of your usage. If you have a legit PCB it would be legal to use (you didn't recreate the copyrighted game) although you need to check your local city, county, state and federal laws regarding the taxation (or permits) regarding using such devices for profit. A good read about copyright laws regarding video games it the following link:
http://www.academia.edu/4415769/Copyright_Law_and_Video_Games_A_Brief_History_of_an_Interactive_Medium
ark_ader:
--- Quote from: Mr_Numbers on February 07, 2014, 01:28:07 am ---
--- Quote from: Nullface on February 04, 2014, 12:08:23 am ---So if multicades are illegal to profit from because they are unlicensed (bootlegs), then is it illegal to build your own cabinet but have it play legit JAMMA games inside for profit or do you need the original cabinet due to advertising policies or something? Say I made my own cabinet and put Street Fighter II inside of it and took quarters as credits, is this not legal? I am in the United States.
--- End quote ---
The MAME machine is 100% illegal no if and or buts about it (in the USA) regardless of your usage. If you have a legit PCB it would be legal to use (you didn't recreate the copyrighted game) although you need to check your local city, county, state and federal laws regarding the taxation (or permits) regarding using such devices for profit. A good read about copyright laws regarding video games it the following link:
http://www.academia.edu/4415769/Copyright_Law_and_Video_Games_A_Brief_History_of_an_Interactive_Medium
--- End quote ---
Nice paper, but it only addresses the software of the game and not the operating system or the hardware to "play the game". The paper deals with bootlegs and clones of software where the 60 and X scenario is correctly suited. Having the game roms of Space Invaders and playing it in a MAME or similar emulator would not be illegal as the game was not copyrighted, or that the hardware was unable to source to play the software on.
Most EULAs pertain to using software for commercial purposes, but if this type of EULA was non existent for a version of Donkey Kong for the Sega Genesis system, one could argue a licensing exception in civil court. Emulators are not illegal for commercial use (Sony vs Connectix 2000) which would constitute fair use.
Nice Try. ;)