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Is emulation legal?
Yes, it is.
The outcome of the lawsuit SONY versus CONNECTIX was that unauthorized emulation is completely legal. The court ruled that CONNECTIX had the right to emulate the SONY Playstation and that conversion of the Playstation BIOS fell under proper use. This lawsuit enabled CONNECTIX to develop the Virtual Gaming Station for Mac OS.
Okay, so it is legal, but is it lawful?
By emulation it is possible to make the hardware of one platform react in the same way as the hardware of another platform. There is nothing against the fact that your own hardware reacts in a way desired by you. That is precisely the function of software: the software takes care of it that the hardware fulfils your wishes. Emulation is not only used to play console games on a PC, but there are different kinds of emulators for different types of hardware and for all types of platforms. Console emulation is only a small part of a large collection of emulation software.
And what about copies. Are they legal?
Yes, under very specific circumstances or conditions the owner of a software package is allowed to make an extra copy of his software package. If you satisfy the conditions prescribed by law, you are allowed to make a copy. At present you are not allowed to use game copying machines.
If you make a copy with such an appliance the copy will also be illegal. For your information: there are many freeware / public domain games that can be downloaded on the internet. These games can only be played by using an emulator or a flash card.
Is distribution of copies legal?
No, not always. People and companies have the right to make a backup copy of their software. However, this does not give them the right to give such a copy to others, not even when they are the rightful owners of the software package. So, briefly summarized: you are allowed to make a copy of the software package owned by you, but you are not allowed to give such a copy to others.
Does GBASHOP distribute copies?
No, and we will never do that.
Are the Backup Tools Legal?
That question is the same as asking if recordable CDs are legal. Of course, they are 100% legal. SuperCards and HDXtreem are Backup Tools and as such they are completely legal; that is to say if you use them for a legal purpose!
You can download all commercial game roms on the internet and play them on your Gameconsole by using a Backup Tool - that would be illegal!! But when you play back-ups of games bought by you or when you play FreeWare and Public Domain roms downloaded on the internet, there is nothing illegal about that! |
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