Legal ?

I was wondering is it legal to download PSX roms ?

one word answer: No.long answer: it is legal to make a backup copy of a disc you own for your own purposes in most countries, it could be argued that most people arent capable of making a backup thus downloading substitutes for that, but don't expect it to stand up in court. The disc lost/broken/stolen defence won't work either.

But the console has been discontinued, like the NES and SNES, so why isn't it legal?

because the games are still under copyright.

When does the copyright expire?

75 years after the death of the copyright holder.

Damn, that's a quite a bit. :P

Loonylion · #675 years after the death of the copyright holder.

are you for real?! i thought as long as they want until they decide [the company] to make it [the game] public.

Nintendo & every game producing company has no "life", so that 75 year time limit may not be applicable. :-\

I think NES and SNES' game copyright has expired already, although the copyright holder's death hasn't occurred 75 years ago, if it even has occurred.

no, it hasn't expired yet, its just considered abandoned.ultra: that is the wording of copyright law as it currently stands.

so loony how do you explain this 2006-2008 copyright. That stands for how long it is copyrighted for. Thats what my friend says and he works in law.

no, that is when it was copyrighted until the present date. Copyright is implied upon creation of an intellectual work and persists for 75 years from the death of the creator.

Yeah sometimes they remove the copyright, which is very rare however. But this shouldn't worry you at the moment, you're doing illegal stuff now :)

I believe Rockstar made Grand Theft Auto 1 & 2 free to the public, but does that remove the copyright? It isn't the same thing is it?

No it's not, you cannot take GTA 1 or 2 and then republish it for example, if they had relinquished their copyrights then you could.

man 75 YEARS that's too long, someone would of bought it anywas wouldn't they?

If it was popular, probably.

Replying to #18

If a copyright is held by a company, does the actual copyright belong to the president of that company? Or to a list of people?
If so, it's nice to know I can just bomb nintendo if I want CP free games :P

Belongs to a company, and even if you bomb Nintendo then the company will still exist on paper and thus will the copyright as well.