Is this stuff legal

Malcster · Post by **Malcster** » Mon Jan 10, 2005 7:49 pm

jdratlif wrote:True, but they are starting to wake up to emulation of late. Not true emulation, but have you seen the classics they've been releasing on GameBoy Advance? I saw the two original Zeldas on a GameCube disc that was a special from Nintendo Power.

Yeah, they might use emulation on the GC but I say that they are anti emulation in that they track down ROM sites like crazy, whereas Sega aren't as bothered about it.

Pombar the Englishman · Mon Jan 10, 2005 9:16 pm

That's because Sega is the hollow shell of the Company it once was(mix-a-me-metaphors).

Bean · Post by **Bean** » Tue Jan 11, 2005 3:54 am

So what would you guys recommend because I seriously don't want to get in trouble with the government. Also what would be the punishment for this if caught?

jdratlif · Post by **jdratlif** » Tue Jan 11, 2005 4:20 am

Noxious Ninja wrote:You may not be able to decide, but the law has. Distributing illegal copies for gain is a criminal offense. Distributing copies for free, as well as receiving/making copies yourself, is a civil offense.

Unless you can quote that law, I'm not conceeding.

Joe Camacho · Post by **Joe Camacho** » Tue Jan 11, 2005 7:03 am

jdratlif wrote:
Noxious Ninja wrote:You may not be able to decide, but the law has. Distributing illegal copies for gain is a criminal offense. Distributing copies for free, as well as receiving/making copies yourself, is a civil offense.
Unless you can quote that law, I'm not conceeding.

I can quote the law of my country if you wish. Even if they are of different degrees, an illegal act is an illegal act. So it is a "crime".

jdratlif · Post by **jdratlif** » Tue Jan 11, 2005 10:39 am

Joe Camacho wrote:
jdratlif wrote:
Noxious Ninja wrote:You may not be able to decide, but the law has. Distributing illegal copies for gain is a criminal offense. Distributing copies for free, as well as receiving/making copies yourself, is a civil offense.
Unless you can quote that law, I'm not conceeding.
I can quote the law of my country if you wish. Even if they are of different degrees, an illegal act is an illegal act. So it is a "crime".

Illegal acts are broken into two categories in the U.S. Crimes and torts.

Crimes are what we think of the police protecting against and investigating. Crimes can be punished by jail time and worse. I think buying bootleg DVDs is a crime. I cannot unfortunately quote a law backing up my position. But until someone can quote proof against my position, I'm not abandoning it. It seems to me that it must be a crime to profit (and I'm not using the term here to mean make money) from someone elses crime. Why should you be allowed to reap the benefits of the bootleggers criminal activity without it being a crime? This logic would promote the mass public to abandon retail outlets and head to the nearet black market for goods. If it's not a crime, why should anyone care if you're buying from the source or from a pirate?

Torts, which are illegal acts that are not part of the criminal code, are actions which harm an individual or entity (like a corporation). They can only be punished by a lawsuit and financial judgement.

Copyright infringement is generally a civil issue, but there is criminal infringment of copyright, which covers bootlegging among other things (with or without profit, by the way).

From the new FBI warning label against piracy:

FBI Warning Label wrote:The unauthorized reproduction or distribution of this copyrighted work is illegal. Criminal copyright infringement, including infringement without monetary gain, is investigated by the FBI and is punishable by up to five years in federal prison and a fine of $250,000.

Quoted from http://www.afterdawn.com/news/archive/4993.cfm

This still doesn't say whether the buyer (or even just a free recipient) is a criminal or just an infringer though.

Malcster · Post by **Malcster** » Tue Jan 11, 2005 1:10 pm

Bean wrote:So what would you guys recommend because I seriously don't want to get in trouble with the government. Also what would be the punishment for this if caught?

Don't take this as legal advice, but I think the chances of hundreds of FBI busting through your window to arrest you and give you 25 to life for playing downloaded ROMs is very slim. Punishment, well if it's a civil offense then I think Nintendo would have to sue you personally. They usually don't bother suing people who aren't actively distributing ROMs in some way. But if playing ROMs is gonna give you sleepless nights worrying about prison and make you jump out of your skin every time you hear a police car siren, then you probably better not play them.

Joe Camacho · Post by **Joe Camacho** » Tue Jan 11, 2005 7:15 pm

jdratlif wrote:This still doesn't say whether the buyer (or even just a free recipient) is a criminal or just an infringer though.

I agree with you, I think I just expressed myself wrong:

Here in Mx., It is considered a crime if you buy pirate stuff or sell pirate stuff, just like pirating cable tv or dish signal. For example: If you pay someone to install you a pirate dish signal and you get caught, the guy who installed it and you face a trial.

In the issue of bootlegs: If you are caught with certain amount of bootlegs, you can be procecuted with piracy charges, even if you didn't make any profit with them.

It used to be a civil offense in Mx, but the growth of the pirate market here, made necesary the changes made to the law. Lots of people would do what you said, buy lots of pirate stuff, knowing it was, and when they were surprised with it, they only deny they knew about it.

Post by **badinsults** » Wed Jan 12, 2005 12:21 am

Blah blah blah, console classix and zsnes are legal. Distributing rom images of commercial games is not. Let us end it at thas.