Is RetroPie/Emulators Illegal?
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A few friends this week have said that these retro games systems are actually legal, and breach copyright just like downloading movies does.
Is this true? It kind of makes sense. Downloading Nintendo games for free.
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Not illegal - unless you are distributing copyrighted software etc (which we are not). Some people sell RetroPie with games - this is not legal, much like people that sell Kodi with addons to stream copyrighted content.
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@jay81uk check out Sony vs connectix or bleem and you'll see that not once have emulators been ruled illegal in a court of law. Now if an emulator ships with copyrighted code like BIOS or games like ROMs litigation is guaranteed.
Emulators are nothing more than a codec for video games, just like a DVD is no more than a codec for a filmstrip. Having a DVD is not illegal, downloading a movie, and selling a DVD with someone else's movie on it is. Same with emulators and roms. Frank cifaldi gave a fantastic speech on emulation and why it's been vilified.
http://www.gdcvault.com/play/1023470/-It-s-Just-Emulation
It is a fascinating topic. Definitely worth watching all the way through.
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