Are emulators legal?

[sippin codeine]

It is NOT illegal to make an emulator or to use one, it is illegal to use and distribute ROMS though...

ROMS like SNES/NES games are not usually highly enforced, but PS2 would be a major violation, but then again why are you concerned if it is illegal?

the chances of you going to jail are not high.

 

[GameGURU]

because i do NOT want to break the law.

 

[sippin codeine]

because i do NOT want to break the law.

ok.. then stick to your console version

 

[megaman2000ph]

I think the creation of emulators is just for fun. I do not sure it is legal?

 

[Slam'n Systems]

I say its legal, there everywhere and even cops use them. I don't see why your scared, it's not like somebody is gonna get the FBI to search your house.

 

[mac_mogul]

Lol! At one point in time, I used to have a PS one emulator on an older mac of mine. It came with a serial port 'dual shock' controller and was licensed by Sony. But the disk was lost, the controller fell into the hands of a toddler, and the computer had a hard drive swap.

T'was cool though while it lasted

 

[jolancer]

roms and emulators are not illegal. y are u guys just making up stuff...

true, all emulators are legal... some roms are not though..

example.. all the old arcade, snes, and sega roms are legal.. cause those co no longer make a profit from them, the only part of the copyright that still applys i believe is if u resell copys of there material for your own profit.

however, ps2 games for example.. are not legall, unless u own the original game... if so then it is perfectally legal to have a back up copy for yourself on your pc.
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note- it is more likely that u will get hit and die by lightning, then someone caring about what u have emulated on your pc.
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note- ignore the spammers posts above.
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o yea il clue u in one something else-- there is no God, so if your woried about going to hell, its not possible... onthe otherhand, if there is a God, your already living in hell, so dont worry about it.

 

[hygor]

jolancer, I agree with you for the most part, Emulators are perfectly legal as long as you own the originals of the media you are playing on the emulator... for example bleem and bleemcast were commercial examples of legal emulators!

example.. all the old arcade, snes, and sega roms are legal.. cause those co no longer make a profit from them, the only part of the copyright that still applys i believe is if u resell copys of there material for your own profit.

However I disagree with you here, what you refer to above is Abandonware and the legality of this is a bit of a grey area, I know that companies like LucasArts still consider this piracy of their software and as a result have released Classics disks with some of their older games on, in order to cover all of the possible loopholes (even though it looks as if abandonware is illegal, they wanted to make sure by still selling the product!). I suppose time will tell on the matter of Abandonware, though from what I have seen the law does not look upon it favourably!

Anyway those are the facts as far as I know them... I'm not saying I agree with them, I personally used to have a large MAME and Zsnes collection, but a dead HD later that is no longer the case!

 

[Harper]

I know that companies like LucasArts still consider this piracy of their software and as a result have released Classics disks with some of their older games on,

LucasArts and any thing with related to Disney. Best not to screw with either of those 2 companies.
Both have lawers with too much money and too much time.