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Adeptus:

I think because emulation is still relatively obscure (though it seems to be becoming more mainstream & popular all the time) and maybe also because most people who play arcade emulators would never buy the genuine cabinet/PCB anyway (ie no loss of potential sales), the arcade manufacturers haven't been enforcing their copyright as much as the music, movie, & home software companies have been.


USSEnterprise:

I have another question then. If you set up a dedicated MAME cab, using StarROMs ROMs, can you charge money?

elvis:


--- Quote from: USSEnterprise on August 10, 2005, 11:57:58 pm ---I have another question then. If you set up a dedicated MAME cab, using StarROMs ROMs, can you charge money?

--- End quote ---

ROM liceneses are NOT transferrable.  I cannot download a ROM and resell it to someone.  That is illegal.

What I can do is download the ROMs on behalf of someone else.  And I cannot charge extra for the ROMs.

What we (and other cabinet builders) do is charge for the parts and labour of building the actual cabinet.  The software side of things is probably the easiest part of an emulation-based cabinet, and anyone claiming they need to charge hours of labour time is having a go at you.  Downloading 27 legal ROMs off the net to save to a folder hardly warrants labour charges, in my humble opinion.

In order to supply StarROMs ROMs running off MAME, you need permission from both StarROMs Inc and MAMEDev.  The process is quite simple.  Just email them stating your business intentions, and then agree to their terms and conditions when they approve.

For instance: when bundling MAME with cabinets and StarROMs ROM files, you MUST recompile MAME to only support the games that are sold with the cabinet.  Not difficult at all, as it's just a matter of changing the driver file and setting the compile off.  If you don't like the conditions, then tough luck.  And fair enough really, considering you're using it at no cost.

So to answer your question: Yes, you can sell cabinets with StarROMs ROMs and MAME bundled, and make money from the cabinet itself.  Provided you obtain permission for using the software first, and play by the rules.

The full license restrictions are available at the respective license owner's websites.  They are the first place to check if you believe anyone is breaching license agreements.


USSEnterprise:

thats not what I meant. I meant setting it up with Star ROMs and charge people to play, with a coin door.

elvis:


--- Quote from: USSEnterprise on August 11, 2005, 01:23:02 am ---thats not what I meant. I meant setting it up with Star ROMs and charge people to play, with a coin door.

--- End quote ---

Absolutely not.  The StarROMs license agreement states specifically that the games are for single ownership only, and only for personal use.

This is a single-use license.  You cannot charge people to use the product after purchase.  Just like you can't rent/buy a DVD and charge people to come to your house and watch it.  For that, you need to apply for a special distribution license which costs substantially more.

To date, only Ultracade offers commercial distribution licenses for ROMs.  Outside of that, your only option is to purchase an orioginal game board.

Again, all of this information is on the StarROMs website.  Read their FAQs and license agreements if you have any uncertainty about what the legal options for their software are.


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