Is this legal??

ROMs contain copyrighted material so while there is no law that specifically mentions ROMs then it is still illegal, just like there is no law to mention specific items that are illegal to copy or steal.

every full game you download for free most of the time is illigal ;D

Replying to #22

Unless it's freeware.

MaetriArchAre 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.

They kicked me out without a warning. I never joined again...and refuse to....they're tossers

Like Seph's repeated time and time again, it's not a question of legality but a question of morality. Disclaimers don't stop you from downloading anything. Why do you think Bittorrent is blooming at this point? People feel obliged to download copyrighted material since they do not feel morally obligated to pay for something that they can probably get for free.I primarily download most of the stuff that I watch, play or even read for that matter. However, my morality requires me to buy something that I personally feel is WORTH my money, be it a good album, a game or a movie.

Well Said ;) I completely agree :D

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

Its technically illegal to download a rom even from a cardridge whch you own. Because it isn't a copy of *your* cartridge. However once you have it, it would be impossible to prove you didn't dump it yourself.

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.

It isn't in the U.S. I can't speak for Europe or elsewhere but, you may make up to five backups of anything you own, in any format you wish, provided that you do not allow anyone else to use these copies and none of the copies are in use at the same time as the original or one of the other copies.If you don't own the game its %100 illegal in most countries.Personally I don't see any problem with morally. Most of these games have long since been abondonded. Plus I spend every penny on games now, as I would without Roms. The way I look at it, is if me downloading extra games doesn't effect my purchasing(aside from avoiding crap) what's the problem? Its hurt no one.The theft anology has always been a poor one. The reason? When I steal something the owner is out the cost of the matertial transpotation, etc. When I copt something, it doesn't cost them a cent. I'm not setting them back at all. And as previously mentioned it doesn't effect how much I buy so the only people who would complaing about this probably want jail for jaywalking too.

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!!!

Uh, no. Its already been ruled that making files publically availible and having a system in place that's *capable* of distribution is a form of distribution. Plus Seph would have to *own* all of these cartriges and discs in the first place, which I doubt he does.

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.

Myth. I know of one site that claims this, and there was no action every taken against them. They may have recieved a cease and desist, ignored it, and Nintendo may not have followed up, but if they had, they most certainly could persue it.

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.

That only works for things which have no copyright. Otherwise its a violation that just isn't enforced.

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.

You *think* you do anyway.

Replying to #27

The theft analogy is made up to scare people off. Under UK law, the definition of theft is 'the unlawful removal of anothers property with the intent to deprive the rightful owner of it; thefore when you copy something it is not theft because you have not deprived the owner of it. Consider this case:Oxford University brought charges against a student for the theft of an exam paper. He entered a lecturers office, stole an exam paper and copied it, before replacing the original. The Judge ruled that the student was innocent of theft because he replaced the original paper, therefore had no intent to deprive the owner.Here is the catch. If the university had brought charges against him for the theft of the toner and paper used in making the copy; they would have had a case.That was a real legal case in the UK.The argument of breach of contract would be acceptable under British law, providing we had a written contract that stated continuing construes acceptance; but that would probably be overruled by the copyright infringement.

Its quite funny that people are going against this data protection act; Poeple in my school got hold of a admin program and could change other people's passwords delete their files and shit.

umm that isnt the data protection act?

uhhh, i don't get your question ???

me neither.

He was saying deleting someone's files has nothing to do with the law Adnan mentioned.

Void^ 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. :P

That is not true the game companys allow you to have one backup copy

If a romsite says you can download the backup but you must delete it after 24 hours etc., is plain bullshit. It just makes it seem legal.