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I just stumbled upon this. Apparently NES/SNES Roms should ALL be considered public domain, no? Read on, and don't hesitat to make an @$$ out of me if this is old news and has been cleared up, but tell me what you think.
(3) Computer programs and video games distributed in formats that have become obsolete and which require the original media or hardware as a condition of access. A format shall be considered obsolete if the machine or system necessary to render perceptible a work stored in that format is no longer manufactured or is no longer reasonably available in the commercial marketplace.
and it is from copyright.gov so I doubt some kid is just making it up...
This would apply to arcade games mostly, simply because you'd either use MAME or have to buy the board. You can't tell me NES/SNES games aren't reasonably available.
I wouldn't consider Mega Man X3 reasonably available at $70 a pop, or Panzer Dragoon Saga at up to $200. Same with 99% of arcade games at $500+ a piece and more. If you just want the board it can get cheaper. But then you get to deal with things like CPS2 with suicide from the ingenious, yet destructive to the consumer, design. Then you get fun things like corrosion and fire, where insurance will cover the cost but can't bring back the unit from the dead. Nintendo probably keeps people on their toes about nes and snes titles because they can rerelease them on the gba and get new buyers, much like DKC and the Mega Man collection on the cube. Even if the original isn't easily available, they'd rather you buy the new one than get the old for free. Even if they are the same exact game.
well it depends if you see ebay or one-man run websites or garage sales where the copyright holder has nothing to do with it as commercial marketplace.
Only if you have the original or the rom in question has been made freely available, there are a few mame roms that are pd now, you can find them on the mame homepage, theres also some sites selling liscenced mame roms out there providing another legal way to get them
The Prisoner - Makes NGE's ending look almost intelligible.
theres no-one else to blame
Bored? figure out where the above lines from. Answers
The clause makes backing up your own cartridges and arcade boards legal, it has nothing to do with releasing the games into public domain. It has to do with the backing up of source media on different media than the original. In this case - ROM images as opposed to the actual EPROMs themselves.
It doesn't allow for the free-for-all downloading of copyrighted material just because the system it runs on is obsolete. The copyright laws are still in effect.
first copyrights last much longer than 20 years, also those games are all availabl, the hardware also. nintendo just stopped making the jap nes/snes last september and they are still some in stores probbaly. next dont forget u can always find system clones. so the hard ware is always available.
1 more thing is nintendo still profits from every game that have. have u not seen the classic nes collection?????????
never forget they will always be doing this so they will always protect those games.
the Librarian of Congress may exempt certain classes of works from the prohibition against circumvention of technological measures that control access to copyrighted works.
Where did you get that backing up to a different type of media from???
Nice try, but NO, you're not legally allowed to steal ROMs now.
The exemption you quoted is related to DMCA claims regarding copy protection -- and is usually associated with backing up materials and having to circumvent said protection measures.
the Librarian of Congress may exempt certain classes of works from the prohibition against circumvention of technological measures that control access to copyrighted works.
Where did you get that backing up to a different type of media from???
Like Rand said, what you're referring to is an ammendment to the Digital Millenium Copyright Act. Read the DMCA and you'll understand. You're just viewing the ammendments out of context.
Copyright measures include product keys, requirement of the installation media on runtime, and in some cases - such as those you are referring to - the media itself.
In any case, you still have to own the original media for this clause to even pertain to you.
Yeah, with CDs they can get scratched so easily. Hell you can have a CD player that scratches them for you. My car player does the only time I put real disks in there is when I first get the disk, and I can't wait to listen to it. If I remember corectly isn't it "bad" to copy a CD as back up because if eyertything is perfect they never go bad? (You know since they NEVER break, get scratched, the ink is always good.)
MetaFox wrote:The clause makes backing up your own cartridges and arcade boards legal, it has nothing to do with releasing the games into public domain. It has to do with the backing up of source media on different media than the original. In this case - ROM images as opposed to the actual EPROMs themselves.
Exactly. The clause basically states that the DMCA does not apply to obsolete systems, such as SNES, Mega Drive or Dreamcast. Copyright law still applies.
pixel wrote:This would apply to arcade games mostly, simply because you'd either use MAME or have to buy the board. You can't tell me NES/SNES games aren't reasonably available.
You can't purchase them new, a lot of people dont like buying used items. While Im sure there is a handful of new SNES/NES games out there, they are not available.
But what about the roms which was remade. For instance the three Mario's from the NES are available on new systems, so I doubt there roms would be legal.
Orange_Ribbon wrote:Yeah, with CDs they can get scratched so easily. Hell you can have a CD player that scratches them for you. My car player does the only time I put real disks in there is when I first get the disk, and I can't wait to listen to it. If I remember corectly isn't it "bad" to copy a CD as back up because if eyertything is perfect they never go bad? (You know since they NEVER break, get scratched, the ink is always good.)
And they've actually discovered CD rot now. Better watch your older CDs.
pyroguyperson wrote:And they've actually discovered CD rot now. Better watch your older CDs.
I got all my Cd's and Vinal on my itunes, So they are all nicley packed away, if i need em in Cd format i just burn em on to a CDr (for like in the car and stuff)
The DMCA really needs a re-write. Previous laws already prohibited every possible illegal use of anti-circumvention devices and programs, but this act just extends that to cover all possible applications of anti-circumvention technology, including perfectly legitimate stuff.
Copyright law, too. And patents.
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az_bont wrote:The DMCA really needs a re-write. Previous laws already prohibited every possible illegal use of anti-circumvention devices and programs, but this act just extends that to cover all possible applications of anti-circumvention technology, including perfectly legitimate stuff.
Copyright law, too. And patents.
then wouldnt the law stop real from hacking into the ipod? apple has it set up to only work with itunes and real circumvents that and allows there on software to be used
