Knock off Rom Boards from China Are they legal to sell in the USA?

[ark_ader]

Hi,

I made a trip to a local arcade distributer, for the first time and found that they were selling generic cabs with modified control panels (some pretty scary) with multi rom boards, like the ones you see on Ebay.

Well the games had no copyright notices on them.

Are they games allowed to be sold in the US and placed in a public place to generate revenue?

It just struck me odd to use these boards in the first place. 

If a crime is being commited should I face the OP or just let it go?

[SirPeale]

Are you a copyright holder?  If not, then let it go.

[freon1200]

im not sure about laws concerning ownershp, but i believe you have to pay a licensing fee of some sort for each rom/game you run on the machine(revenue wise)

[Singapura]

In short: no, they're not legal. There's a big difference between something being illegal or the law being enforced.

[pinballwizard79]

I bought chinese bootleg Lacoste shirts a few years ago & have felt horrible ever since.

Sike 

The programmer who was fired 12 years ago from Namco wont feel you are taking food from his children by purchasing a board of games the defunct copyright holders find less than profitible to sell.

Long story short, we should all just brew our own beer, start a garden, raise our own chickens, vote libertarian, play MAME & not worry about boards of pacman.....IMO

ark_ader, its all good broseph....just enjoy the games. Its not like dare I say it....you sent your money to Istanbul Turkey for the latest rom DVD's & built a cab to play them on right?

LOL, JJ ark_ader 

[TOK]

You should go down there and tell him he's ripping people off and punch him right in the face.

When you regain consciousness 4 hours later, you pull yourself right out of that Galaga cocktail machine you've been stuffed into like some bleeding smart-ass cap kit and go give him what-for again!

[Turnarcades]

Answer=No.

[ark_ader]

I bought Chinese bootleg Lacoste shirts a few years ago & have felt horrible ever since.

Sike 

The programmer who was fired 12 years ago from Namco wont feel you are taking food from his children by purchasing a board of games the defunct copyright holders find less than profitable to sell.

Long story short, we should all just brew our own beer, start a garden, raise our own chickens, vote libertarian, play MAME & not worry about boards of pacman.....IMO

ark_ader, its all good broseph....just enjoy the games. Its not like dare I say it....you sent your money to Istanbul Turkey for the latest rom DVD's & built a cab to play them on right?

LOL, JJ ark_ader 

I know I'm a hypocrite for saying this, but IMHO mame roms in my personal collection, going nowhere but my cab or PC is one thing.

Selling cabs to the general public and commercial outlets knowing full well that the copyright badges are removed in software and on the cabinet is not the same.  This guy is getting cash for rippped roms in some foreign board, something I'm totally against.

This place sold one of these games to a well known famous establishment I frequent.  I'm putting a quarter in a machine that has ripped roms.  Not bootleg or hacked roms - plain and simple ripoffs. 

These games are selling for $1495 each.  That cannot be right.

It's a dilemma.  I'm sure is straight forward to solve. 

[Havok]

It's a dilemma.  I'm sure is straight forward to solve. 

It's real easy to solve. Let it go.

If you want to ease your conscience, write a letter to all the copywrite holders of these games, and ask them to start selling multi game boards so you can purchase it legally, and cab manufacturers can sell them . When they ignore you, go put another quarter in the bootleg machine.