Legal emulation: Did ConsoleClassix find the way?

yodanut · Post by **yodanut** » Wed May 05, 2004 11:53 pm

Hey guys,

I just stumbled upon ConsoleClassix.com, a site that reportedly offers legal Atari 2600, NES, Super NES, and Genesis emulation via a rather ingenious system. Their gimmick is that they allegedly actually own a set number of copies of each cartridge that they offer and backed them up themselves. Then they make these available on the internet, along with the appropriate emulator, via proprietary software that only allows as many copies as were legally made to be active at any time. That means that if they only backed two copies of Super Mario Bros., then in theory only two people can play that game at any time. Basically you're "borrowing" (or "renting", since the 16-bit service isn't free) a fully legal copy of the ROM via the internet. It seems clever, but is it really legal? The site has been up for several years and has even been contacted by Nintendo, but no legal action has ensued. Sorry if this is old news, but I thought it might interest some of you. [/url]

StarFirefly26 · Post by **StarFirefly26** » Wed May 12, 2004 9:58 pm

It does seem legal, they've put quite a bit of thought into this...
I'm not sure on the details, though, I don't know much about the legality of these things, but it's a very interesting website.

cky2k3 · Post by **cky2k3** » Thu May 13, 2004 3:37 am

I believe this is legal i remember zophars domain covering that site when it was first released and it only offered atari roms

farrell2k · Post by **farrell2k** » Sun May 16, 2004 12:09 pm

LMAO...still illegal. In fact, it's really quite dumb. I am sure some people
will believe that it's alright though. Unauthorized distribution of someone elses copyright is illegal, and there's no way around it.

Hawq · Post by **Hawq** » Sun May 16, 2004 1:28 pm

farrell2k wrote:LMAO...still illegal. In fact, it's really quite dumb

They have permission to do it so no its not illegal or dumb

az_bont · Post by **az_bont** » Sun May 16, 2004 1:31 pm

They don't have permission according to their legal statement. Nintendo actually contacted them and asked them to stop, but after one letter they never bothered speaking to them again.

Hawq · Post by **Hawq** » Sun May 16, 2004 1:38 pm

Was I not readin it right & thinkin of the arcade one then? I'm old I get confused easily

Phantom · Post by **Phantom** » Sun May 16, 2004 3:26 pm

You're probably thinking of http://www.starroms.com. That one's legal.

ConsoleClassex is essentially an online videogame rental place. Not sure if that's legal or not. Probably impossible to say without a court ruling on the matter.

Hawq · Post by **Hawq** » Sun May 16, 2004 3:30 pm

As I said I'm old and slightly senile, half a badger please sir!

farrell2k · Post by **farrell2k** » Sun May 16, 2004 3:50 pm

An online video game rental place which rents illegally copied roms....OOOOOKKKK.

Phantom · Post by **Phantom** » Sun May 16, 2004 3:54 pm

farrell2k wrote:An online video game rental place which rents illegally copied roms....OOOOOKKKK.

Not really. They actually have all those games in cartridge format (or at least claim to). So the ROM images they have on their server are legal. Whether the method they've chosen to rent out the games is legal or not, is difficult to say. I'm leaning towards 'not legal'. I don't see any moral issues here though.

MetaFox · Post by **MetaFox** » Sun May 16, 2004 5:24 pm

Interesting. It at first glance seems illegal since they give out ROMS past the amount of cartridges they actually own. ie: thousands of ROM images as opposed to several cartridges.

But then I noticed the part about proprietary software locking out usage while another person is using the same ROM. Ingenious indeed. I'm not sure if this is legal, but it's definately a nice try to show that people who download ROMs are not all warezers. I'd like to see this go to court, to see what the verdict would be. If it's as legal in the eyes of the court as the individuals providing the service claim that it is, then this could lead to completely legal emulation.

Lartrak · Post by **Lartrak** » Sun May 16, 2004 8:59 pm

farrell2k wrote:An online video game rental place which rents illegally copied roms....OOOOOKKKK.

It has been established that breaking the copyright protection to make a backup of something on outdated hardware is legal if you do it yourself. So the ROMs are legal, if not the distribution.

farrell2k · Post by **farrell2k** » Mon May 17, 2004 1:16 am

Lartrak wrote:
farrell2k wrote:An online video game rental place which rents illegally copied roms....OOOOOKKKK.
It has been established that breaking the copyright protection to make a backup of something on outdated hardware is legal if you do it yourself. So the ROMs are legal, if not the distribution.

lol. o.k. if you say so...

If this is true, which I seriously doubt it is, I could only see it applying in circumstances where the purchasee of the game is unable to obtain the necessary hardware by reasonable means to play the game. It sounds like a bunch of BS.

Lartrak · Post by **Lartrak** » Mon May 17, 2004 1:58 am

farrell2k wrote:
Lartrak wrote:
farrell2k wrote:An online video game rental place which rents illegally copied roms....OOOOOKKKK.
It has been established that breaking the copyright protection to make a backup of something on outdated hardware is legal if you do it yourself. So the ROMs are legal, if not the distribution.
lol. o.k. if you say so...

If this is true, which I seriously doubt it is, I could only see it applying in circumstances where the purchasee of the game is unable to obtain the necessary hardware by reasonable means to play the game. It sounds like a bunch of BS.

I'm too lazy to look it up right now, but there was a ruling on it a few months ago. I forget the exact wording - something like "reasonably available in the commercial marketplace". It was discussed on this forum when it occured.

MKE · Post by **MKE** » Mon May 17, 2004 2:15 am

it's no different then triggerfingers or gamefly

they bought x amount of games, then rent them out. when one person is done, they send that game to someone else that rented it.

just instead of shippin' cartriges its in a rom image

and i do remember that discussion about that latark...

it was something like if that kind of media isnt readily available b/c of being outdated, then it is legal for you to make rom's of it...

i think it's legal, but i wont pay per play snes roms.....

Phantom · Post by **Phantom** » Mon May 17, 2004 4:34 am

MKE wrote:i think it's legal, but i wont pay per play snes roms.....

It's not pay-per-play actually, the service costs $5 a month if you want to play SNES and Genesis games. For Atari 2600 and NES games there's no charge.

q_006 · Post by **q_006** » Tue Jun 08, 2004 7:19 pm

i don't see the big deal.
all this is, is Blockbuster online.

They have the actual games.
They don't allow anyone to purchase the game, just play it.
It's one game, one copy at a time.
Also, the DMCA does allow emulation and copying of software where the hardware is not commercially available (and no Gamestop et al does not count).
You pay for the service, of playing the games, not for the ROMS.
So therefore you're not cutting into profits (current, future, or otherwise) because they can't play the game whenever they want or take it whenever they want. It has to be on the user's computer or a computer where the account is accessible.
When you're done, you're done. The game stays on their server not your computer. You can't pass it around, can't copy, can't sell it yourselves.

So like I said, online Blockbuster and notice they answered Nintendo's letter and haven't been contacted since. That doesn't mean that everything is in the clear, but it is a very good sign.

.....ok, you can continue to think it's illegal now