I've been lurking for a few days now and I've been noticing my old nemesis appearing in a few threads: emulation myths. Both users and mods alike have been saying a lot of questionable things and this has to be dealt with. Ignorance is the enemy here.
--Edited by the admins of this website. This is true depending on your country you currently are living in.
1. If I own a copy of a game, I can download a back-up of that game off the internet legally.
False. Buying a copy of a game does not give you unlimited rights to that product. It just means that you've purchased the right to play that copy of that title. That's it. If you are caught pirating a game from the internet, you will be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law, which includes heavy fines and prison.
--Edited by the admins of this website. This is 100% not true.
2. If I own a copy of a game, I can create a back-up of that game and use it in an emulator legally.
False. This and the former myth are very much alike, but I wanted to separate them on this forum to make a point. I've seen many users and even a few mods saying this. They're wrong. The copying of the data off your game disc to create a back-up image is illegal. This is covered in your End-User Agreement. Creating unauthorized copies of your game is illegal. If caught, you will receive the same punishment from your represented country as stated in the last myth. As said before, you're buying the right to play that copy. That's it. You're not buying unlimited rights to distribute, copy, and reproduce that product. You are not a publisher.
That's all I got off the top of my head. If you know any other myths, post them here. I might post a few more after thinking for a bit.
Anyway, the point of this thread is to say that if you are playing any other games with Dolphin other than home brew games, YOU ARE BREAKING THE LAW. Emulators themselves are not illegal, but what they are used for is illegal; however, I'm not seeing emulator authors blocking the ability to play official games. I don't see that ever happening.
Now, before you flame me, read your end-user agreement at the back of your manual. I'm right. Get over it. If you use Dolphin to play any official games, whether or not you backed them up yourself or not is irrelevant; you're a pirate.
--Edited by the admins of this website. Your wrong. Get over it.
As far as I remember the Nintendo End-User Agreement is not exactly law, and even then the emulation could fall in the category of "Fair Use" and in that case it's not illegal
EDIT:
Actually , we have to follow this
Code:
Can I backup my computer software?
Yes, under certain conditions as provided by section 117 of the Copyright Act. Although the precise term used under section 117 is “archival†copy, not “backup†copy, these terms today are used interchangeably. This privilege extends only to computer programs and not to other types of works.
Under section 117, you or someone you authorize may make a copy of an original computer program if:
* the new copy is being made for archival (i.e., backup) purposes only;
* you are the legal owner of the copy; and
* any copy made for archival purposes is either destroyed, or transferred with the original copy, once the original copy is sold, given away, or otherwise transferred.
You are not permitted under section 117 to make a backup copy of other material on a computer's hard drive, such as other copyrighted works that have been downloaded (e.g., music, films).
It is also important to check the terms of sale or license agreement of the original copy of software in case any special conditions have been put in place by the copyright owner that might affect your ability or right under section 117 to make a backup copy. There is no other provision in the Copyright Act that specifically authorizes the making of backup copies of works other than computer programs even if those works are distributed as digital copies.
lol for eula = law. Though afaik US has a law that prohibit any circumvent of copy protection, how's that?
What??!!! making iso from original disc is ILLEGAL???I dont believe it!!!
Where do u get that opinions???In ur genius head???Im laughing...
The point is I dont believe you!!!
Its ILLEGAL if u sell it or share it.Remember that u Genius boy..
As long as you backup the copy of your game, not download it and are the rightful sole owner of the media you are backing up then it is legal. Don't take Nintendo's EULA as a legal document, despite all the legal jargon, EULA's typically have no legal bearing until the contents of the EULA are contested in court and ruled in the favor of the company that wrote the EULA. Making a backup copy of media you own is typically considered fair use even if the DMCA tries to spin it otherwise. As far as I know the copy protection used on Gamecube and Wii discs isn't a type of DRM that would be illegal to bypass/circumvent, if it was the homebrew and emulation scene would be in trouble.
Now I haven't studied the laws of my country... but I know that they go above any kinds of deals companies can make with their products to limit your possibilities that is provided by the law, eg. if the law says we can backup our own digital media, Nintendo can't take that right away. Then again my country has one of the strongest consumer rights in the world
And I did not find an End-User Agreement on the back of any game's instructions. Maybe we don't have them because they wouldn't apply, in any case I wouldn't have signed them anyway, unless Nintendo required me to play my games.
You can rip a legal backup of physical media you have.
What you can't do is download a ROM just because you have the game (or lack one). Besides, what sense does it make to rob income from the very people that are creating you enjoyable content?
I just see the "they are rich anyways" or "other people will pay for it" rhetoric as narcissistic and ignorant. If you can't afford a game, work a job for one night and buy it.
Nobody that can afford a computer & internet connection is so poor they can't afford at least one video game per month.
(07-01-2010, 05:59 PM)Xtreme2damax Wrote: [ -> ]As long as you backup the copy of your game, not download it and are the rightful sole owner of the media you are backing up then it is legal. Don't take Nintendo's EULA as a legal document, despite all the legal jargon, EULA's typically have no legal bearing until the contents of the EULA are contested in court and ruled in the favor of the company that wrote the EULA. Making a backup copy of media you own is typically considered fair use even if the DMCA tries to spin it otherwise. As far as I know the copy protection used on Gamecube and Wii discs isn't a type of DRM that would be illegal to bypass/circumvent, if it was the homebrew and emulation scene would be in trouble.
Well Nintendo's EULA is pretty watertight as it has a lot of legal basis in countries that have patent and copyright agreements. They got the Nintendo DS R4 chip banned last year because they succesfully argued it emulates real, copy-protected games and software.
http://www.dailytech.com/article.aspx?newsid=14447
Quote:Nintendo wins lawsuit against distributors of Nintendo DS emulation hardware
On Friday the Tokyo District Court issued an order banning the import and sale by five companies of electronic devices known as the “R4â€. These devices allow users to play illegally copied game software on the Nintendo DS hand held game system. Judge Masami Ichikawa, who oversaw the suit filed by Nintendo and 54 other game companies, ruled that the import and sale of DS emulation devices, runs counter to the unfair competition prevention law as they cancel out the consoles’ copy protection system.
Not the same thing as a PC emulator but still.
Though, dolphin doesn't circumvent copyright protections, even the BIOS is only emulated and not required to be real (like on the pcsx2 project). It's a collection of dll's and executables that have been 100% coded by amateurs that do not profit in any way from it's distribution, and it can play Wii disks even without ripping anything to the hard-drive (via a disk drive that supports reading wii/gc disks).
If somebody should be gone after it's the distributors of illegal ROMS. They are the ones who give a bad name to the emulation scene and causing monetary losses to Nintendo, not Dolphin.
(07-01-2010, 03:11 PM)Travixyz Wrote: [ -> ]What??!!! making iso from original disc is ILLEGAL???I dont believe it!!!
Where do u get that opinions???In ur genius head???Im laughing...
The point is I dont believe you!!!
Its ILLEGAL if u sell it or share it.Remember that u Genius boy..
According to the DMCA if you circumvent copy protection to make a backup its illegal, so yes making an iso from an original disk is illegal because nintendo uses AES encryption, which is a form of copy protection.
(07-01-2010, 08:07 PM)Ocean Wrote: [ -> ]You can rip a legal backup of physical media you have.
What you can't do is download a ROM just because you have the game (or lack one). Besides, what sense does it make to rob income from the very people that are creating you enjoyable content?
I just see the "they are rich anyways" or "other people will pay for it" rhetoric as narcissistic and ignorant. If you can't afford a game, work a job for one night and buy it.
Nobody that can afford a computer & internet connection is so poor they can't afford at least one video game per month.
(07-01-2010, 05:59 PM)Xtreme2damax Wrote: [ -> ]As long as you backup the copy of your game, not download it and are the rightful sole owner of the media you are backing up then it is legal. Don't take Nintendo's EULA as a legal document, despite all the legal jargon, EULA's typically have no legal bearing until the contents of the EULA are contested in court and ruled in the favor of the company that wrote the EULA. Making a backup copy of media you own is typically considered fair use even if the DMCA tries to spin it otherwise. As far as I know the copy protection used on Gamecube and Wii discs isn't a type of DRM that would be illegal to bypass/circumvent, if it was the homebrew and emulation scene would be in trouble.
Well Nintendo's EULA is pretty watertight as it has a lot of legal basis in countries that have patent and copyright agreements. They got the Nintendo DS R4 chip banned last year because they succesfully argued it emulates real, copy-protected games and software.
http://www.dailytech.com/article.aspx?newsid=14447
Quote:Nintendo wins lawsuit against distributors of Nintendo DS emulation hardware
On Friday the Tokyo District Court issued an order banning the import and sale by five companies of electronic devices known as the “R4â€. These devices allow users to play illegally copied game software on the Nintendo DS hand held game system. Judge Masami Ichikawa, who oversaw the suit filed by Nintendo and 54 other game companies, ruled that the import and sale of DS emulation devices, runs counter to the unfair competition prevention law as they cancel out the consoles’ copy protection system.
Not the same thing as a PC emulator but still.
Though, dolphin doesn't circumvent copyright protections, even the BIOS is only emulated and not required to be real (like on the pcsx2 project). It's a collection of dll's and executables that have been 100% coded by amateurs that do not profit in any way from it's distribution, and it can play Wii disks even without ripping anything to the hard-drive (via a disk drive that supports reading wii/gc disks).
If somebody should be gone after it's the distributors of illegal ROMS. They are the ones who give a bad name to the emulation scene and causing monetary losses to Nintendo, not Dolphin.
Well except emulation has been contested in court and the Supreme Court ruled in favor of emulation stating that is was a gray area, technically legal but a legal gray area due to the ability to play backups of copyrighted games. You can even create an emulator and charge for it and legally be in the clear as long as it doesn't contain any copyrighted code.
Here is something that is a fairly interesting read regarding emulation:
http://www.law.northwestern.edu/journals/njtip/v2/n2/3/
The link above also explains the outcomes of the Sony vs. Bleem & Connectix suit.
(07-02-2010, 02:10 AM)Xtreme2damax Wrote: [ -> ]You can even create an emulator and charge for it and legally be in the clear as long as it doesn't contain any copyrighted code
Very informative read in the article, and yes, that's my point.
Dolphin only *emulates* all features of the real wii. Everything is coded from scratch by private users. To use a strawman analogy, is it allowed for a farmer to use techniques he saw being used in another country? Is it allowed for Toyota to take engine manufacturing ideas from a Honda car?
Dolphin is not a substitute for a real wii. It only attemps to do what the wii does (play games designed for it) in it's own manner, which is not even nearly perfect.
Same thing if you rip an audio CD you bought and encode it in a new audio format you created yourself. How can it be illegal to use something you already paid for, in any purpose that is private and doesn't generate you money?
Yes, piracy is obviously illegal. So are probably the R4 chips that directly circumvent copy protection on the DS. But I don't see how it applies on dolphin. Dolphin plays games ripped straight from a disk. It doesn't modify or circumvent any of the game mechanisms in any way nor does it use Nintendo code/technology to do so, nor is it creating any profit for it's owners through sales.