Emulation Good Guys / Bad Guys

From: Eric Smith <eric_at_brouhaha.com>
Date: Fri Dec 3 12:31:17 1999

John wrote:
> The first time I read this, I thought they were opposed to
> emulators in general. The second time I read it, I realized they
> were stressing the rights of the cart and/or game maker. This
> statement makes perfect sense in light of the console industry's
> policies and licenses.

Yes, but as an end user I am not subject to their policies.

A similar situation exists with products I buy here in the US that
are marked "Only for sale in the USA and Canada". Unless there are
export laws or regulations that prohibit it (which there usually aren't),
there's no reason I can't take the item to another country and sell it.

Similary, I buy DVDs manufactured for sale in Japan. They are NTSC but
encoded for region 2 play only. I've had to modify my DVD player to
allow play of non-region-1 discs. I'm sure the recording industry hates
it when people do this, but there isn't actually anything they can do.
(Even under the new Digital Millenium Copyright Act, which bans defeating
copy protection systems.)

> I see where this is going, though - it's similar to a shrink-wrap
> license. When I buy a Nintendo cart, am I in effect signing a
> contract that says I won't run it on an emulator?

No.

Of course, IANAL so YMMV.

Eric
Received on Fri Dec 03 1999 - 12:31:17 GMT

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