Emulation - legal or not?

[drivatar]

When I saw this thread I remembered that I've had some private discussion with Famine about emulation and why it is or isn't against the AUP.

I wanted to make a thread here to open the discussion about legality of emulation to a wider audience but I haven't done until now.

My point of view:
Emulation per se is legal. Of course illegally copying commercial software isn't. You have to use your own software, including firmware that might be required.

Emulators are hosted publicly at sites like Google Code and SourceForge.
Why would e.g. Nintendo, one of the biggest opponents of unofficial emulators, tolerate them if they weren't legal?

 

[LeftyWright69]

What do they do?

 

[drivatar]

What do they do?

Emulators or what do you mean?

 

[Casio]

It's no question. "Emulators" aren't illegal, just ask any mobile software developer, or anyone who uses VMware. However, some forms of device emulation are illegal if not explicitly allowed. Most game emulators are illegal.

 

[Famine]

You'd need to establish a few things at this point.

First, emulation of what?

It's an entirely different question to talk of PS3 emulation than ZX81 emulation, and there are legal and moral differences between the two. You may find even Dreamcast emulation vs. PS1 emulation - console peers - are legally different.

Second, what, exactly, is "legal"?

Even a trip through the courts might not establish legality - just play on doubts of illegality. Just because something isn't specifically illegal (either in criminal or civil law) doesn't necessarily confer legal status on it. Check out OJ Simpson, who isn't a murderer by the eyes of a criminal court, but is by the eyes of a civil one.

Lastly, where?

The law regarding Intellectual Property - the theft of which is the cornerstone of emulation - differs from territory to territory. Just check the diligence with which the RIAA pursues file-sharers in the US compared to prosecutions elsewhere in the world.


There are those who would argue that emulation isn't specifically illegal, rather the use of software with an emulator. This would beg the question "What do you think an OS is then?". Some would say that you can emulate hardware and software so long as you own original copies of both. In the UK at least, this isn't true - owning the hardware and software gives you a single-user licence (same for music and video IP) in that format. If you're able to play the emulated version at the same time as the original version, that breaks the terms of the licence - and the emulator and game copy are not in the same format as your licence anyway.


One last point. This is a valid topic for debate, but there's a line not to be crossed. In the same way as discussing how fast you've driven is fine but discussing by how much you've broken the posted speed limit is not, discussing emulation is fine but discussing emulators is not. Stay away from specifics and we'll be fine - but make no mistake that it is against the AUP, not least for our own protection, and we will not be amused or lenient.

 

[tankuroded]

... discussing emulation is fine but discussing emulators is not. Stay away from specifics and we'll be fine - but make no mistake that it is against the AUP, not least for our own protection, and we will not be amused or lenient.

I'm bit confused on this paragraph - do you mean publicly or privately? And/or what?

 

[drivatar]

You'd need to establish a few things at this point.

First, emulation of what?

Personal computers, home computers, calculators and video game consoles are what I've mostly meant but I wouldn't exclude any computer hardware.

It's an entirely different question to talk of PS3 emulation than ZX81 emulation, and there are legal and moral differences between the two.

Morally yes but what are the big legal differences between emulating old and new systems?
Newer systems have more sophisticated copy protections. Patents of older systems could have run out.

Second, what, exactly, is "legal"?

Legal in the way that you could host an emulator at your website.

Lastly, where?

Good question. USA and EU are the main audience of GTPlanet and most emulators are hosted there.

the emulator and game copy are not in the same format as your licence anyway.

That's not always true. For certain platforms it's possible to load the data directly from the original media (e.g. CD/DVD) and execute it via an emulator.

I'm bit confused on this paragraph - do you mean publicly or privately? And/or what?

We can talk about emulation and emulators in general but not about specifics like emulator X running game Y.

 

[Famine]

Personal computers, home computers, calculators and video game consoles are what I've mostly meant but I wouldn't exclude any computer hardware.

Morally yes but what are the big legal differences between emulating old and new systems?
Newer systems have more sophisticated copy protections. Patents of older systems could have run out.

There would be no legal reason why one could not emulate a ZX Spectrum or its games and probably the same would apply to a Dreamcast. PS1 hardware is still used (inside a PS3) and the games are still sold (albeit in a different form), so there would be a legal difference.

Legal in the way that you could host an emulator at your website.

I'd say that's something of a dodgy criterion. Websites can host all sorts of stuff which are not legal - and again we run into territorial issues...

Good question. USA and EU are the main audience of GTPlanet and most emulators are hosted there.

A well-known "body alteration" website (again, we'll avoid specifics) is legal to view in the USA, but illegal to view in the UK, potentially leading to a significant custodial sentence just for clicking on it...

That's not always true. For certain platforms it's possible to load the data directly from the original media (e.g. CD/DVD) and execute it via an emulator.

That's immediately a different format - electronic copy vs. hard copy.

We can talk about emulation and emulators in general but not about specifics like emulator X running game Y.

Exactly.