IS IT LEGAL?


Doing/owning an emulator is not illegal. Usually, an emulator is written by using publicly documented information about the chips inside a home console or an arcade machine. How to make it all work and how to emulate a custom chip within the system to be emulated is usually done by trial and error, until it works.

What is illegal is to a) include ROMS with an emulator, and b) be in possesion of ROM images of games that you do not own. And even this is a little dubious.

Section 117 of the U.S.C. Title 17 (Copyright law), states:

Notwithstanding the provisions of section 106, it is not an infringement for the owner of a copy of a computer program to make or authorize the making of another copy or adaptation of that computer program provided:

  • (1) that such a new copy or adaptation is created as an essential step in the utilization of the computer program in conjunction with a machine and that it is used in no other manner, or
  • (2) that such new copy or adaptation is for archival purposes only and that all archival copies are destroyed in the event that continued possession of the computer program should cease to be rightful. Any exact copies prepared in accordance with the provisions of this section may be leased, sold, or otherwise transferred, along with the copy from which such copies were prepared, only as part of the lease, sale, or other transfer of all rights in the program. Adaptations so prepared may be transferred only with the authorization of the copyright owner."

    Console games/arcade games are classified as computer programs.

    So, according to the copyright law, you CAN own a copy of a software program you own(contrary to what Nintendo and the IDSA wants you to believe). But in the case of ROMS, you can't copy them so websites have to distribute them (so ignore in part sub-section 2).

    About copies of software that you do not own, the Copyright Information Act of 1995 states:

    "Any software no longer being sold with a copyright older than 2 years becomes public domain, the reason being that such software becomes obsolete because of advancements on the medium and technology."

     So, old games are now public domain.

    Still, even if you/we might be on the legal side, we are in the emulation scene because of the classic games. To preserve these games. They just can't cease to exist. But to protect the industry, it is a self-applied rule among emulator programmers and webmasters to not emulate/distribute newer games.

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