Comment on The emulator that lets you play NES games in 3D has left early access on Steam

• glitchdx@lemmy.world ⁨18⁩ ⁨hours⁩ ago

  Nintendo was able to sue palworld using a patent that didn’t exist before palworlds release. It’s not right, but they can do whatever they want regardless of what the law says.

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  • samus12345@sh.itjust.works ⁨17⁩ ⁨hours⁩ ago

    They were able to do that because Palworld is made by Japanese devs, and they used specifically Japanese patent law. Doesn’t apply here.

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  • BlameTheAntifa@lemmy.world ⁨14⁩ ⁨hours⁩ ago

    Exhibit number 4,923,768 for why patents should not exist and need to be aggressively banished from civilization.

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  • entwine413@lemm.ee ⁨18⁩ ⁨hours⁩ ago

    That’s not the lawsuit that’s being discussed. It’s the Yuzu Switch emulator lawsuit.

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    • glitchdx@lemmy.world ⁨18⁩ ⁨hours⁩ ago

      yeah, i know. Point is that Nintendo can do whatever they want with the flimsyest excuse.

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      • pressedhams@lemmy.blahaj.zone ⁨4⁩ ⁨hours⁩ ago

        Exactly. They can file a lawsuit even knowing they might not win just to burden someone into crippling debt if they want to defend themselves

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• callouscomic@lemm.ee ⁨18⁩ ⁨hours⁩ ago

  as long as you own the game, emulation is legal.

  People say this, but I believe it is mostly technically untrue. It’d be a relatively easy argument to say that a downloaded ROM that isn’t exactly the digital copy YOU purchased with a license would be seen as not legal.

  However some people talk about literally ripping the game off the physical device themselves, hence copying their own copy of it. Now you are in grey territory of making copies of copyrighted materials, and in the case of more modern games like the last decade, they almost assuredly have language that specifies you don’t actually own the code and all that.

  All I’m saying is be careful and probably refrain from repeating the fallacy that owning a game makes emulation of it legal, because that implies having the ROM is legal and that’s doubtful.

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  • mycodesucks@lemmy.world ⁨17⁩ ⁨hours⁩ ago

    Copying your own game and materials for backup purposes is no grey area, and neither is development or use of emulators, and panicky, uninformed spewing of gut feelings are how public knowledge of your actual rights gets muddled into people with zero knowledge waxing poetic about how they THINK it works because they like games and think that makes their ramblings valuable.

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    • PlasticExistence@lemmy.world ⁨17⁩ ⁨hours⁩ ago

      www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/text/17/1201

      In the USA, it is illegal to make a backup copy of any of your media when the original contains any form of DRM.

      On any media where DRM wasn’t used, you’re okay to create a backup copy.

      The law is different everywhere though.

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      • prole@lemmy.blahaj.zone ⁨2⁩ ⁨hours⁩ ago

        Bleem would like a word…

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      • mycodesucks@lemmy.world ⁨15⁩ ⁨hours⁩ ago

        Not to be a stickler, but this does not make copying illegal - it makes circumvention of drm methods illegal. You can make drm’d copies as you like as long as you don’t circumvent the drm method. If your game isn’t encrypted, and the emulator doesn’t implement the drm, you haven’t circumvented drm - you are playing your legal copy on a device that does not implement the drm. It’s distinct from removing the drm from a device that implements it.

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      • Jeffool@lemmy.world ⁨16⁩ ⁨hours⁩ ago

        After the DMCA passed there was a case of a judge finding it legal to bypass DRM to make backup copies, but illegal to distribute the software used to do so. I have no idea if there was ever further clarification or new law about this. That was like 20 years ago. It was part of a case going after the company who was making the software, but the name slips my mind. I’ll try to look it up if anyone cares enough.

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  • PlasticExistence@lemmy.world ⁨17⁩ ⁨hours⁩ ago

    The emulation itself is legal, assuming you’re not using any copyrighted code, BIOS, etc. to make work.

    The backup copy of your game that you need can be made legally as well, but in the USA, if the source contains a form of DRM, then you cannot legally make a copy.

    www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/text/17/1201

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