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☖ Forums → Discussion Forum → DMCA Exemptions Laid Down (ROMS Legal)
DMCA Exemptions Laid Down (ROMS Legal)
2006-12-03, 8:17 PM #1
http://www.copyright.gov/1201/ <--Awesome stuff. I'm glad there's finally a concrete system set up--now nobody can shut down good ROM sites anymore in the US.
D E A T H
2006-12-03, 8:25 PM #2
:D Now I'll only feel bad about playing ROMs in class rather than feeling bad about downloading them in class. :o
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2006-12-03, 8:30 PM #3
Also includes a lot of obsolete dongle-based software (there's a lot of programs that require you to have a certain thing hooked into either a serial port, usb port, etc etc to run said software.) Meaning cracked versions of such software are now legal. 3DSMax used to use dongles.

Awesomecakes.
D E A T H
2006-12-03, 8:39 PM #4
..Awesome, my 20 gigs of ROMs are now legal. \o/

o.0
2006-12-03, 8:42 PM #5
Originally posted by Greenboy:
..Awesome, my 20 gigs of ROMs are now legal. \o/

Actually, probably not all of them. It's still debatable about the Virtual Console, and then there's PS1 games. But yes, for the most part, they are.
D E A T H
2006-12-03, 8:43 PM #6
Except it only covers your *** if you already own the games. You still can't just hand copies to all your friends (aka internet).
2006-12-03, 8:46 PM #7
Those games never had any tech. to prevent copying in the first place because they were propitiatory console formats made before the Internet was even around.
2006-12-03, 8:47 PM #8
Cool Matty, you were always fine to have an archival ROM if you already owned the game (though it was never ok to download a ROM even if you owned the game). The change in the law means that if you can no longer access the original format by reasonable means it is exempt from copyright, thereby making it perfectly acceptable to download.
Detty. Professional Expert.
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2006-12-03, 8:48 PM #9
[QUOTE=Cool Matty]Except it only covers your *** if you already own the games. You still can't just hand copies to all your friends (aka internet).[/QUOTE]
Well yeah, but before you didn't even have that. That was shaky ground at best. Before ROMs could be legal or illegal depending on the whim of a judge. Now there's a final ruling that, if you own the game, it's legal.

EDIT: Oh, looks like I misinterpreted this law. Interesting, you don't even need to own the game now.
D E A T H
2006-12-03, 8:51 PM #10
Originally posted by Detty:
Cool Matty, you were always fine to have an archival ROM if you already owned the game (though it was never ok to download a ROM even if you owned the game). The change in the law means that if you can no longer access the original format by reasonable means it is exempt from copyright, thereby making it perfectly acceptable to download.


I fail to see where you come up with that you can download now.

I don't see anywhere about it saying "freely distributable".

The problem with the old law was that it was debatable, and there was problems with circumventing copyright protection software and hardware to back up the software, which was originally illegal to do. It is now legal to circumvent those measures and basically do whatever it takes to back up the data. More or less, MAME users are rejoicing, not emulator guys.
2006-12-03, 8:53 PM #11
I misunderstood the bit at the start of the page
Detty. Professional Expert.
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2006-12-03, 8:54 PM #12
The way I read it is that.. If its not manufactured or easily available anymore, then its legal to acquire by other means. So basicly everything except the current consoles, and GBA(though not for long), and DS, is legal to own. I think. I wonder what the situation is on say.. remakes and such is.

o.0
2006-12-03, 9:39 PM #13
Quote:
6. Sound recordings, and audiovisual works associated with those sound recordings, distributed in compact disc format and protected by technological protection measures that control access to lawfully purchased works and create or exploit security flaws or vulnerabilities that compromise the security of personal computers, when circumvention is accomplished solely for the purpose of good faith testing, investigating, or correcting such security flaws or vulnerabilities.


Ha ha. That just screams "Sony".
the idiot is the person who follows the idiot and your not following me your insulting me your following the path of a idiot so that makes you the idiot - LC Tusken
2006-12-04, 1:19 AM #14
Interesting, I guess that finally legitimizes Home of the Underdogs and other abandonware sites.

Not that being explicitly lawful really matters that much, since the benignity of archiving should be fairly obvious without legal backing.
2006-12-04, 2:04 AM #15
[QUOTE=Cool Matty]Except it only covers your *** if you already own the games. You still can't just hand copies to all your friends (aka internet).[/QUOTE]

Well that means that about an 1/118th of my games are legal :ninja:
"Nulla tenaci invia est via"
2006-12-04, 5:25 AM #16
From what I've been reading around the internets, the general consensus about this exemption is that downloading them is legal, but hosting them is still illegal.
"If you watch television news, you will know less about the world than if you just drink gin straight out of the bottle."
--Garrison Keillor
2006-12-04, 5:40 AM #17
Originally posted by fishstickz:
From what I've been reading around the internets, the general consensus about this exemption is that downloading them is legal, but hosting them is still illegal.


That's been around since before this law was enacted. It's based on lies.

Same as the "If you do not own the game you may only keep the rom for 24 hours!". Neither excuse will hold up in court.
2006-12-04, 7:22 AM #18
[QUOTE=Cool Matty]That's been around since before this law was enacted. It's based on lies.

Same as the "If you do not own the game you may only keep the rom for 24 hours!". Neither excuse will hold up in court.[/QUOTE]

Not true, the language in the exemption is very loose, and one could definately make the case that it is impossible to obtain an original NES system (Or arcade machines), the format is obsolete, and therefore completely legal to obtain the ROMs for your own... eh-hem... archival reasons
"If you watch television news, you will know less about the world than if you just drink gin straight out of the bottle."
--Garrison Keillor
2006-12-04, 7:28 AM #19
Originally posted by fishstickz:
Not true, the language in the exemption is very loose, and one could definately make the case that it is impossible to obtain an original NES system (Or arcade machines), the format is obsolete, and therefore completely legal to obtain the ROMs for your own... eh-hem... archival reasons


You just said yourself why it wouldn't hold up in court.
2006-12-04, 8:14 AM #20
Not like it matters, they're never going to go after the ROM users, just the providers.
"If you watch television news, you will know less about the world than if you just drink gin straight out of the bottle."
--Garrison Keillor
2006-12-04, 10:08 AM #21
Quote:
2. Computer programs and video games distributed in formats that have become obsolete and that require the original media or hardware as a condition of access, when circumvention is accomplished for the purpose of preservation or archival reproduction of published digital works by a library or archive. A format shall be considered obsolete if the machine or system necessary to render perceptible a work stored in that format is no longer manufactured or is no longer reasonably available in the commercial marketplace.
You have to prove that you're a library or archive.
2006-12-04, 12:52 PM #22
Yeah, that's all that seems required to be able to host ROMs.

But it's not like that's an obstacle. I'd assume all that would be needed to constitute an archive is a website that hosts files for preservation only--that is, for example, it doesn't profit off of the files it hosts.

The only sites that might be inconvenienced are ones that obviously host for profit (for example, they charge for access, though this method could just as easily be used for a nonprofit site).
2006-12-04, 3:14 PM #23
Quote:
A format shall be considered obsolete if the machine or system necessary to render perceptible a work stored in that format is no longer manufactured or is no longer reasonably available in the commercial marketplace.
The key word here is or. It doesn't matter if you can pick up an NES at any old pawn shop (And, actually, you can), it's not being manufactured, so the archival of ROMs is legal. Another factor in this is that word reasonably. The PS3 is not reasonably available in the commercial marketplace, so can I have ROMs of it's games?

Of course, you still have to prove you are an archivist.
Wikissassi sucks.
2006-12-04, 3:24 PM #24
So, what about the fact that you can download NES games for the Wii? Wouldn't that mess with anything?
2006-12-04, 3:35 PM #25
Originally posted by Aglar:
So, what about the fact that you can download NES games for the Wii? Wouldn't that mess with anything?

The games I want probably won't be on the Wii :( Or they will be there in crappy form. For example, I LOVED Dragon Warrior III for the NES. They did a re-release on GBA, but they modified it by adding a trading card collection scheme to it, and in addition, they completely dumbed down all the cool old-english dialog to crappy pokeman dialog :mad:
2006-12-04, 4:43 PM #26
Hey, I've got that game and my old NES system sitting at home. :P
Life is beautiful.
2006-12-04, 8:59 PM #27
[QUOTE=Rogue Leader]Hey, I've got that game and my old NES system sitting at home. :P[/QUOTE]
Want to sell me the game?

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