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What constitutes a valid rom license?
Chris:
--- Quote from: DaveMMR on May 17, 2004, 06:45:02 am ---
--- Quote ---It's about as gray as music swapping, i.e. not at all. People (myself included) just want it to be a gray area.
--- End quote ---
So what you're saying is music swapping is always illegal? Nope, not always. Say I was an musician and I used programs like Kazaa to distribute a song I created just to get it 'out there'. It's not illegal then. But when a song was created for the sake of selling albums, then yeah - you're breaking the law.
--- End quote ---
But it's still not a gray area, it's black and white. If your license allows such sharing, it's legal, otherwise it's not. Very not gray.
DaveMMR:
Agreed - won't call in gray, but still a complicated affair (I used gray as a synonym for complicated which is incorrect).
Chris:
--- Quote from: DaveMMR on May 17, 2004, 04:04:27 pm ---Agreed - won't call in gray, but still a complicated affair (I used gray as a synonym for complicated which is incorrect).
--- End quote ---
Complicated it is. Most definately.
SirPoonga:
--- Quote from: Chris on May 17, 2004, 12:37:52 am ---I don't have any manuals, so i couldn't tell you when licenses appeared. I'm pretty sure that by the time Pac-Man was on the scene, licenses were in full force... but Boot Hill? Surround? Sprint 1? Those games might predate licenses... That doesn't mean that they weren't under copyright, it only means they may not have had restrictions only allowing them to run on their original hardware.
--- End quote ---
Ok, I am reading my Double Dragon II manual. First, I have a board with a rom update on it! I need to see what mame is running. Ok, mame is running the update.
All that is mentioned in the manual is:
IMPORTANT NOTICE
Double Dragon II: The Revenge
will be available exclusively through American Technos, Inc. and Romstar, Inc.
All purchases of this game must be made through American Technos' and Romstar's authorized distributors
BEWARE OF COPY GAMES
Double Dragon II: The Revenge will be available first in the U.S. and Canada until all sales and distribution have been completed. Upon completion of Sales and Distribution in the U.S. and Canada, Double Dragon II will be released in limited quantities in Europe.
Anyone offering parallel boards of Double Dragon II: The Revenge will more than likely be selling illegal and illegitimate copies, and will be prosecuted accordingly.
American Technos and Romstar support the effortsof the AAMA and the FBI in its anti-drug campaign. The "Winners Don't Use Drugs" message will appear in all legitimate versions of Double Dragon II: The Revenge.
On the last page is has the FBI warning:
Federal law provides severe civil and criminal penalties for the unautherized reproduction, distribution, or exhibition of copyrighted audiovisual works and video games.
The Federal Bureau of Investigation investigates allegations of criminal copyright infringement.
Nowhere in the manual does it tell the license or define what is or isn't legal. Hmmm.....So, with that FBI warning, you'd have to look at copyright law when ddragon2 was released. I didn't expect to see anything int he instruction manual.
Chris:
--- Quote from: SirPoonga on May 17, 2004, 06:46:25 pm ---
--- Quote from: Chris on May 17, 2004, 12:37:52 am ---I don't have any manuals, so i couldn't tell you when licenses appeared. I'm pretty sure that by the time Pac-Man was on the scene, licenses were in full force... but Boot Hill? Surround? Sprint 1? Those games might predate licenses... That doesn't mean that they weren't under copyright, it only means they may not have had restrictions only allowing them to run on their original hardware.
--- End quote ---
Ok, I am reading my Double Dragon II manual. First, I have a board with a rom update on it! I need to see what mame is running. Ok, mame is running the update.
All that is mentioned in the manual is:
IMPORTANT NOTICE
Double Dragon II: The Revenge
will be available exclusively through American Technos, Inc. and Romstar, Inc.
All purchases of this game must be made through American Technos' and Romstar's authorized distributors
BEWARE OF COPY GAMES
Double Dragon II: The Revenge will be available first in the U.S. and Canada until all sales and distribution have been completed. Upon completion of Sales and Distribution in the U.S. and Canada, Double Dragon II will be released in limited quantities in Europe.
Anyone offering parallel boards of Double Dragon II: The Revenge will more than likely be selling illegal and illegitimate copies, and will be prosecuted accordingly.
American Technos and Romstar support the effortsof the AAMA and the FBI in its anti-drug campaign. The "Winners Don't Use Drugs" message will appear in all legitimate versions of Double Dragon II: The Revenge.
On the last page is has the FBI warning:
Federal law provides severe civil and criminal penalties for the unautherized reproduction, distribution, or exhibition of copyrighted audiovisual works and video games.
The Federal Bureau of Investigation investigates allegations of criminal copyright infringement.
Nowhere in the manual does it tell the license or define what is or isn't legal. Hmmm.....So, with that FBI warning, you'd have to look at copyright law when ddragon2 was released. I didn't expect to see anything int he instruction manual.
--- End quote ---
Copyright law would tell you that you couldn't copy it, but wouldn't say anything about what hardware you could run it on.
Muddying the water is a recent court decision regarding obsolete platforms that appears to be in favor of allowing emulation when the original hardware is not readily available, but still doesn't permit distribution of copies of those ROMS, just using copies of ROMs you already have licensed on hardware that is otherwise forbidden by the license.