MAME legal?

[zaxxonderek]

Just something i've been pondering. Is it legal to use a MAME machine for profitable situations or just for home use. Not that I would, im just wondering.

[Chris]

Just something i've been pondering. Is it legal to use a MAME machine for profitable situations

No.

[Gunstar Hero]

Oh man, not this one again... 

[pointdablame]

no.

nope.

nein.

nuh uh.

well... maybe if you were to... NO

[Crazy Cooter]

Nunca.

[mahuti]

Rather than being  legal / illegal, I think it is more accurate to say that using in a for-profit method is not allowed under the Mame license. Not something that you could go to jail for, but you could be civilly liable (unless you were using pirated roms... that is definitely illegal)

[GGKoul]

Straight from the Mame License.

G06. Is MAME illegal? 

No. Emulating another platform, in itself, is NOT illegal. It is NOT illegal to have MAME on your computer, on your website, or to give it to friends.
ROM images are a different matter. Many ROM sites have been politely contacted by ROM copyright-owners and asked to take images offline. At the time of this writing, however, no site has been LEGALLY shut down, or prosecuted.

There are a few clear precedents about ROMs' legality: Capcom has licensed some of its classic ROMs to be bundled with Hanaho's HotRod Joystick control panel. By buying one, you can have some absolutely legal ROMs. There is also now a service which sells licenses to possess and use ROMs, called StarROMs. They offer a legal way to have ROMs for some of the games supported by MAME, and hopefully more services like this will appear in the future.

Possessing ROM images of circuit boards you do not own may constitute a copyright violation, much like copying a friend's game or audio CD rather than buying it. This is still a legal gray area; possession of such ROMs will not necessarily lead to legal prosecution. In any case, you are responsible for your own actions. No one connected with the MAME project is responsible if you get in trouble.
 
 

[mahuti]

The question was about whether it was legal to run MAME for profit. In that sense, the answer is still... what I mentioned above.

And regarding the statements noted above. A HOME user will probably not be sued civilly, and surely not criminally for use in the home (except for P2P type stuff) HOWEVER, making money off of software you don't own is illegal... not like sharing a CD, it's like BOOTLEGGING a cd... big difference legally.

How many people have ever gone to jail for bootleg-running arcade machines? That I can't tell you. Probably not many.

[paigeoliver]

Anyway, if you really want to run something bootleg out in public just get a Multi-Williams board, a "Track Pack" board or a 9 in 1 board. They are at least designed for it, a Mame out on location would give you nothing but trouble and you would quickly find the location owner wanting you to get rid of it.

But, if you truly want to step into the (long unprofitable) business of being an operator then just get a nice 25" Jamma cabinet (as generic looking as possible), and go on ebay and get yourself a Mr. Driller G board, the game is only 2 years old, was never released in the US for the arcades and the board only costs $50.

[jelwell]

Hanaho does it. The mame devs approve. So yes, it's legal - but only under certain circumstances. Those circumstances seem to involve:
1) Any distributed ROM files have to be legal
2) The mamedevs have to like you.

Hypocrisy runs deep in the MAME community.
Joseph Elwell.

[pointdablame]

Hanaho does it. The mame devs approve. So yes, it's legal - but only under certain circumstances. Those circumstances seem to involve:
1) Any distributed ROM files have to be legal
2) The mamedevs have to like you.

Hypocrisy runs deep in the MAME community.
Joseph Elwell.

I thought Hanaho used the Capcom compliations that were availabe???

[Chris]

Hanaho does it. The mame devs approve. So yes, it's legal - but only under certain circumstances. Those circumstances seem to involve:
1) Any distributed ROM files have to be legal
2) The mamedevs have to like you.

Hypocrisy runs deep in the MAME community.
Joseph Elwell.

In the context of this thread, just what is this supposed to mean?

[Lilwolf]

btw, the mame team doesn't 'approve'...  They have just turned their attention elsewhere.  They have never officially OK'd it... but they know they are doing it... and would rather spend thier time worrying about people who do not use legal roms.

Your question is No is every front.

1) It is against the mame licence to use mame for any money making purposes.

2) It is illegal to use Starroms or any other known access to legal roms in a money making setting.  StarRoms (and the capcom ones) are for home use only...

3) If you own the original boards... There are grey areas on if its legal to use other hardware to run them.  2 years ago the courts (in the US) have made it LEGAL to use other hardware when the original hardware was unattainable through normal means.  IE, if you can buy the original hardware anymore.. you have to... This was brought up to bypass those parallel port doggle items.  When they died... and the company was out of buisness... your only option was to bypass it with hacks.  But this is now legal... but this is ONLY if you where legally able to run it before.  But nobody has brought using an emulator to replace a board that died.  With all the classic gaming being popular... and a bunch of boards out there with battery suicide circuits... You might see this coming to a court near you in the next few years.  There  are TONS of legal licenses out there for games... where the hardware doesn't currently exists and you cant buy the hardware.  Owners of arcade games might be able to sell the license to games that blew up years ago in emulation cabinets (not using mame, read above) legally... This would be cool!

[stellarola]

Hey I asked this question about 2-3 months ago, u all remember that one? Had like 8 pages of replys. Someone find the link. 

[Thenasty]

I guess there are alot out there that does not have a job.

MCDONALDS are HIRING get it there, its LEGAL...you won't goto JAIL if you get caugth working at McDonalds.... EOF

[Shape D.]

YES

[Shape D.]

Oh wait, Sorry NO!

[missioncontrol]

Your question is No is every front.

When I first read that I thought it said :

"your question in NO in every font