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OffTopic > Is this site legal?

#100368 - jake2431 - Sun Aug 27, 2006 4:11 pm

http://www.c64hq.com/ I don't see an about, but the site looks legit. Is it legal to play C64 games on a emulator now?

#100372 - zzo38computer - Sun Aug 27, 2006 4:26 pm

jake2431 wrote:
http://www.c64hq.com/ I don't see an about, but the site looks legit. Is it legal to play C64 games on a emulator now?


Only abandonware C64 games, which are probably everything, but I'm still not sure.
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#100375 - jake2431 - Sun Aug 27, 2006 4:29 pm

Okay, thanks. I want to play the first Ultima, I just wanted to make sure it was legal.

#100376 - zzo38computer - Sun Aug 27, 2006 4:31 pm

jake2431 wrote:
Okay, thanks. I want to play the first Ultima, I just wanted to make sure it was legal.


If you really want to make sure, you could try asking the company that made the first Ultima
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#100381 - tepples - Sun Aug 27, 2006 5:21 pm

jake2431 wrote:
http://www.c64hq.com/ I don't see an about, but the site looks legit. Is it legal to play C64 games on a emulator now?

Provided you copied them from a disc that you own, yes. Making and running backups is not infringement per 17 USC 117(a) and foreign counterparts; it just happens not to be what gbadev.org is about.

Provided that the games have been released as freeware by their authors, yes. But most of the stuff on Home of the UndARRdogs isn't.
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#100386 - spinal_cord - Sun Aug 27, 2006 5:30 pm

the way I see it, running ye olde roms for machinges such as the C64 is semi-legal, there is now many ways to backup youre own diska and tapes to use with an emulator, but I assume that sites that offer 20 year old games dont get into trouble because the companies that own the games have either declaired them as abandonware or they just dont care sinse they havent made movey from them in about ten yeara and are unlikely to in the future.
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#100396 - tepples - Sun Aug 27, 2006 6:05 pm

spinal_cord wrote:
the way I see it, running ye olde roms for machinges such as the C64 is semi-legal, there is now many ways to backup youre own diska and tapes to use with an emulator

Backups are legal (but off-topic). Downloads generally aren't.

Quote:
but I assume that sites that offer 20 year old games dont get into trouble

You meant "95" not "20".

Quote:
because the companies that own the games have either declaired them as abandonware or they just dont care sinse they havent made movey from them in about ten yeara and are unlikely to in the future.

Super Mario Bros. is 20 years old. Besides, the FBI or foreign counterparts can always press criminal copyright infringement charges by itself if it can demonstrate that one copyrighted work was exchanged for another.
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#100430 - keldon - Sun Aug 27, 2006 9:17 pm

tepples wrote:
Super Mario Bros. is 20 years old. Besides, the FBI or foreign counterparts can always press criminal copyright infringement charges by itself if it can demonstrate that one copyrighted work was exchanged for another.


But mario bros is still being sold today. Many good games simply aren't available. I've even had trouble fishing around in shops for recent games, and store owners just turn around and tell me how rare that game is now. Having said that I did see a boxed copy of gunstar heroes.

But suggesting the availability of these old games is almost like telling >these guys< that they can legitimately watch their movies elsewhere ^_^

#100432 - tepples - Sun Aug 27, 2006 9:37 pm

keldon wrote:
Many good games simply aren't available.

If the copyright owner wants copies of old games to become collectors' items, that's the copyright owner's prerogative under typical copyright laws throughout the world. Not that I agree with it or anything...

Quote:
But suggesting the availability of these old games is almost like telling >these guys< that they can legitimately watch their movies elsewhere ^_^

If the copyright owner wants to promote the airline industries by refusing to censor films for foreign markets, that's the copyright owner's prerogative under typical copyright laws throughout the world. Not that I agree with it or anything...
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#100437 - keldon - Sun Aug 27, 2006 10:26 pm

I'm just not the sort of person to follow what the law says to the T when it does not make sense or if I don't agree with it. I guess I am a bit of a rebel (Someone who exhibits great independence in thought and action).

I can't remember if it was for the commodore or the spectrum, but there was a house phone released recently that featured much of the catalogue of that console by the manufacturers - at least I think it was a phone.

But nothing beats waiting for your game to load while the console performs its randomized synth orchestra ^_^

#100439 - jake2431 - Sun Aug 27, 2006 10:59 pm

Off topic: keldon I got 1m 42s on that game, but I don't know what the captures part is. I didn't see that in the game.

On topic: I don't really see downloading games as wrong if you can't play them any other way. Though it would be kind of cool to buy an old comodore 64.

#100443 - Optihut - Sun Aug 27, 2006 11:15 pm

jake2431 wrote:
Off topic: keldon I got 1m 42s on that game, but I don't know what the captures part is. I didn't see that in the game.


On the title screen it says "capture the flanges, avoid the swirlies"
The flanges are the blue stars, if you touch them, your capture count increases by one and they emit blue dots that are irritating but harmless. Great, now I need to play that again and try to break your records :P

EDIT: 1 Minute 30 Seconds, 40 Captures. To get 80+ Captures in less than 2 minutes is pretty masterful (and probably very lucky on the flanges' placement).

#100456 - sgeos - Mon Aug 28, 2006 12:41 am

zzo38computer wrote:
Only abandonware C64 games

Doesn't abandonware mean "I won't take you to court, but I could"? The answer is that downloading and playing them is probably technically illegal, but nobody (or very few companies) are going to care.

If a company goes under, or an author dies, and nobody explicitly inherits their work, what status does it have legally?

-Brendan

#100463 - tepples - Mon Aug 28, 2006 1:22 am

sgeos wrote:
zzo38computer wrote:
Only abandonware C64 games

Doesn't abandonware mean "I won't take you to court, but I could"? The answer is that downloading and playing them is probably technically illegal, but nobody (or very few companies) are going to care.

If a company goes under, or an author dies, and nobody explicitly inherits their work, what status does it have legally?

Corporate author goes bankrupt: Copyright is sold at auction.

Individual author dies intestate (that is, without a valid will): Next of kin inherits the copyright.

Joint author dies intestate: I'm guessing that the other authors inherit the decedent's share of the copyright.
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#100594 - keldon - Mon Aug 28, 2006 9:52 pm

Optihut wrote:
jake2431 wrote:
Off topic: keldon I got 1m 42s on that game, but I don't know what the captures part is. I didn't see that in the game.


On the title screen it says "capture the flanges, avoid the swirlies"
The flanges are the blue stars, if you touch them, your capture count increases by one and they emit blue dots that are irritating but harmless. Great, now I need to play that again and try to break your records :P

EDIT: 1 Minute 30 Seconds, 40 Captures. To get 80+ Captures in less than 2 minutes is pretty masterful (and probably very lucky on the flanges' placement).


There were some very lucky moments. But I'm on a 700Mhz PIII so it might play a little slower on my system making the swirlie explosion fragments easier to dodge.