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Is this board legal?
Ule:
It's all MAME fault.
Instead of saying on their splash screen: "Use of ROMs is illegal...blah, blah".
They should have said: "These ROMs are abandonware, they are not sold and copyright holders do not exist. We provide all the ROMs here for free and if there is someone who would like to claim a copyright please step forward to prove it, inform us where can we buy the game and if requested we will be happy to remove the game from our emulator."
That's what they should have said, and everything would have been different.
Le Chuck:
--- Quote from: Ule on March 03, 2012, 01:44:09 pm ---It's all MAME fault.
Instead of saying on their splash screen: "Use of ROMs is illegal...blah, blah".
They should have said: "These ROMs are abandonware, they are not sold and copyright holders do not exist. We provide all the ROMs here for free and if there is someone who would like to claim a copyright please step forward to prove it, inform us where can we buy the game and if requested we will be happy to remove the game from our emulator."
That's what they should have said, and everything would have been different.
--- End quote ---
The MAME devs correctly stated the law. What they listed is not an "interpretation". If they listed your proposed language it would not have altered the law one iota and could have compromised the project. What is the legal stance on abandonware again? Oh that's right, it doesn't exist. Failure to locate a copyright holder does not constitute permission to recreate the product.
paigeoliver:
It isn't legal, some operator probably just told PBW that it was. There is no way in the world that board could be legal and still sell for $75. If it was it would come with a manual, a serial number sticker, an artwork kit and it would cost about $600, not $75. The games on the board come from a dozen different manufacturers, some of which are basically defunct.
No one is going to kick down your door but those boards are most definitely bootleg and thus not legal. Both the mame software they run and the rom images they contain are unlicensed. Pretty much EVERY x in 1 jamma board is the same way, not aware of any legal ones other than the ones installed with a few of the retro cabinets made by the real arcade companies, which are way more expensive than the usual x in 1 boards.
Yes they sell them on Amazon and ebay but that doesn't mean they are legit. I was looking on amazon.co.uk earlier to research for a post on a different message board and found people openly selling mame compilations and loaded mame cabinets there too. Does that make that legit?
paigeoliver:
If you want something completely legit that you can do on a budget for a charity auction then do a NES cabinet. The carts are cheap enough and you don't have the 4-way/8-way issue to worry about.
Plus those 60 in 1 boards are sort of junk. They mix 4-way, 8-way, alternating 2 player, simultaneous 2 player, trackball and spinner games on the same board. It is not an attempt at a good product, it is junk. They have sound issues as well.
Ule:
--- Quote from: Le Chuck on March 03, 2012, 01:56:22 pm ---
--- Quote from: Ule on March 03, 2012, 01:44:09 pm ---It's all MAME fault.
Instead of saying on their splash screen: "Use of ROMs is illegal...blah, blah".
They should have said: "These ROMs are abandonware, they are not sold and copyright holders do not exist. We provide all the ROMs here for free and if there is someone who would like to claim a copyright please step forward to prove it, inform us where can we buy the game and if requested we will be happy to remove the game from our emulator."
That's what they should have said, and everything would have been different.
--- End quote ---
The MAME devs correctly stated the law. What they listed is not an "interpretation". If they listed your proposed language it would not have altered the law one iota and could have compromised the project. What is the legal stance on abandonware again? Oh that's right, it doesn't exist. Failure to locate a copyright holder does not constitute permission to recreate the product.
--- End quote ---
Perhaps, but playing stupid is a valid legal tactics, I think it would work for the best, especially if they were still based in Italy or some country other than USA.
The thing is, the developers of those games, those people who really matters here, rather than companies they worked for, they would prefer those games are out there. Playing them still after they can not be legally bought should not be theft and no one should feel like criminal because of it, but rather emulating and providing them is a tribute and appreciation, like we all can listen to classical music today and no one has to buy the notes and composition books or pay any copyright for it to anyone.
The point is to somehow enforce companies to say out loud and make their position official, black on white. I believe that's what Nintendo did and some other companies regarding some specific games, but there is still majority of the games for which the companies that made them really DO NOT EXIST, there is simply no one to claim copyright, they are gone, like Ludwig van Beethoven, but that should not stand in a way of us appreciating and paying tribute to those games, by actually playing them and making them available out there.
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