Is this legal??

I love this site. Its the site I most use. But one thing is bugging me. Is all these roms on this site legally downloadable. I don't know if I'm making a complete fool out of myself, but could someone tell me?

 

Erm, what? So you say this is illegal but it all depends whether or not the downloads are a demo? You speak like a lawyer.

 

lol woot go seph =p yah i know for sure that if you don't have the game then its illegal but come on.. how are they going to find out if your downloading them any ways? If your just useing these roms for personal use then the most they can do is give you a small fine wich i think is like around 100 bucks. nothing big, seph when you asked "to screw the system" i totally cracked up lol i guess i could go with that but im too damn broke to buy games any ways so i wouldnt really say that =p. but oh well we only live once might as well make the most of it right? Download games and play them till your dead baby!

 

I do it to screw the system, and because i don't have cash to be shelling out thousands just to play some DS games. As of the moment i am selling all my games and buying a computer. I have 12 games and the computer is $500.

 

Welcome to RomUlation

 

He hey,

Thats cool. I'm still gonna use this site. . Thanks for the info!

 

the roms are legal as long as you have an original copy on the game

 

^ That's an incorrect statement. Owning the game does not give an individual rights to own a game back-up as presented on RomUlation. No matter what, a ROM is illegal. As long as an emulator does not have / is not bundled with BIO software, the emulator is totally legal and fine... but using it requires illegal activity.

 

It also depends on the country you're from. Some countries allow you to make a copy of a legal cartridge or allow downloading of those roms. Uploading is usually the illegal part.

As far as I know here, in the Netherlands, we pay a small amount of money to the Stichting Thuiskopie for every empty cd/dvd we buy. They should distribute the money amongst the rightful owners then.

 

Code:

http://www.nintendo.com/corp/legal.jsp

"Can I Download a Nintendo ROM from the Internet if I Already Own the Authentic Game?

There is a good deal of misinformation on the Internet regarding the backup/archival copy exception. It is not a "second copy" rule and is often mistakenly cited for the proposition that if you have one lawful copy of a copyrighted work, you are entitled to have a second copy of the copyrighted work even if that second copy is an infringing copy. The backup/archival copy exception is a very narrow limitation relating to a copy being made by the rightful owner of an authentic game to ensure he or she has one in the event of damage or destruction of the authentic. Therefore, whether you have an authentic game or not, or whether you have possession of a Nintendo ROM for a limited amount of time, i.e. 24 hours, it is illegal to download and play a Nintendo ROM from the Internet."

Translation: It's illegal.

The rest of that page is shit thou. The people that pirate games, have no intention of buying them in the first place.

 

Woops I got some heated discussions on this log now. :-X.
Ha ha ha. Its funny to watch! ;D

 

Its completely legal to backup and store your games as roms and use those roms if you own or have direct access to a legitimate copy of the game. Its illegal to have a rom if you don't own or do not have direct access to the software you have as the piece of emulation software ala rom. I have disks of FF7, there damaged but i have iso's downloaded off the net and thus can play them legally without trouble of being sued by some dipshit company in another country for illegally acquiring goods of trade.

I have a tonne of games scattered around in various places around the world but in order to play them i use roms, now someone could say that i don't have direct access to that good and thus owning the roms is illegal, however the fact that i own that piece of software and thus can do whatever the hell i like with it, emulation or otherwise, the bums don't have a leg to stand on.

As long as you own or have direct access to the software thats in emulation form, you can't be touched by anyone.

This site isn't illegal, heck if you made it private/or modified the terms of service for acquiring the roms from this site you couldn't even be touched by Nintendo themselves!!! Because they would be breaking the law and terms of services set in place by the administer that could prohibit them from suing you, in fact making it possible for them to be counter-sued for breaking a legally binding contract (if you put that into the terms of service as well). Quite a few sites have pulled this one off and Nintendo, Sony and Microsoft haven't been able to touch them.

Also if you specially state that the site is being used as a historical games archive they are out of luck even more because you cannot (in most countries) be sued for trying to record something for historical reference later in time. The killer part of this is because all matter of historical fact are of public reference meaning you can acquire your "cough" historical reference "cough" and theres not much that can be done.

Trust me, i know a lot of ways around the bullshit companies try to spin to get sites like this shutdown.

 

I guess since in Holland when you own a piece of software its yours to do with as you will doesn't apply to the rest of the world aye. Figures.

 

Are there any real Law writing about ROM illegal? (Except from the manufacturer of course), Well GameFaqs nearly kicked me out while i asked about ToE ROM there, they don't believe i have a broken ToE CD. and to lazy and broke to buy another one.