Gba Emulation

[Paradox]

i think it was about getting someone to port a GBA emu..but after the 3rd reply kind of veered off course...

 

[thelamer]

I wish people would stop using this expression ... it's meaningless. No emulator is perfect, the concept is fundamentally impossible.

http://mednafen.com/ Mednafen's NES Emu is perfect in my opinion .

 

[GeminiDomino]

http://www.planetgamecube.com/newsArt.cfm?...56D057B62A2B39E

"Now that Nintendo is the sole, legal owner of GBA emulation, any and all emulators are now just as illegal as the ROMs"
WTF, nasty :S

software patents suck

edit: did you notice the date of the article, 04/29/2004 14:24:20, thats a long time ago... never heard of it though.

Just so you know, just because an arsehat lawyer says something, doesn't make it true. Another quote from that asshat is "Whether you have an authentic game or not, it is illegal to copy a Nintendo game from a cartridge or to download and play a Nintendo ROM from the Internet." Which is total FUD.

It is illegal. Nintendo and Nintendo Licensees are the only ones who have the right to copy the data of one copyrighted game to or through any medium. By transferring the contents of that cartridge through a medium you are not licensed to do so, you are illegally infringing on their copyright(s).

That's not true,at least in the US. Copyright has fair use privisions which allow for "format shifting" which allows for things like ripping CDs to MP3 or copying (but not distributing) data from cartridges to computer.

This is what they were trying to side-step by purchasing the DMCA from Congress, making it illegal to break any anti-copying encryption scheme. GBA games do not contain such schemes.

 

[iignotus]

http://www.planetgamecube.com/newsArt.cfm?...56D057B62A2B39E

"Now that Nintendo is the sole, legal owner of GBA emulation, any and all emulators are now just as illegal as the ROMs"
WTF, nasty :S

software patents suck

edit: did you notice the date of the article, 04/29/2004 14:24:20, thats a long time ago... never heard of it though.

Just so you know, just because an arsehat lawyer says something, doesn't make it true. Another quote from that asshat is "Whether you have an authentic game or not, it is illegal to copy a Nintendo game from a cartridge or to download and play a Nintendo ROM from the Internet." Which is total FUD.

It is illegal. Nintendo and Nintendo Licensees are the only ones who have the right to copy the data of one copyrighted game to or through any medium. By transferring the contents of that cartridge through a medium you are not licensed to do so, you are illegally infringing on their copyright(s).

That's not true,at least in the US. Copyright has fair use privisions which allow for "format shifting" which allows for things like ripping CDs to MP3 or copying (but not distributing) data from cartridges to computer.

This is what they were trying to side-step by purchasing the DMCA from Congress, making it illegal to break any anti-copying encryption scheme. GBA games do not contain such schemes.

United States Copyright Law (which is what I have been referencing) does not have any provisions for space-shifting. In RIAA vs. Diamond Multimedia, it was ruled that space-shifting is legal for personal use, at least regarding music files. However, by downloading a GBA ROM, you are not space-shifting, you are infringing a copyright. It is not from your personally bought cartridge that the data comes from. Even if you have the cartridge in front of your face while you download the ROM, it is still copyright infringement unless the data comes from your cart (which Nintendo says is illegal to do anyways).

Moving back to fair use, where doubt exists, fair use is generally a vague claim left up to decision by judge. Nearly all of the cases where fair use has been proven in favor of the user, the application has been critical, parodical, academic, or otherwise scholarly. These uses differ from the intended purpose of the item (the gba game), which is personal enjoyment. However, downloading a ROM for personal enjoyment and not for anything academic will with almost complete certainty be ruled in opposition to fair use laws.

 

[GeminiDomino]

http://www.planetgamecube.com/newsArt.cfm?...56D057B62A2B39E

"Now that Nintendo is the sole, legal owner of GBA emulation, any and all emulators are now just as illegal as the ROMs"
WTF, nasty :S

software patents suck

edit: did you notice the date of the article, 04/29/2004 14:24:20, thats a long time ago... never heard of it though.

Just so you know, just because an arsehat lawyer says something, doesn't make it true. Another quote from that asshat is "Whether you have an authentic game or not, it is illegal to copy a Nintendo game from a cartridge or to download and play a Nintendo ROM from the Internet." Which is total FUD.

It is illegal. Nintendo and Nintendo Licensees are the only ones who have the right to copy the data of one copyrighted game to or through any medium. By transferring the contents of that cartridge through a medium you are not licensed to do so, you are illegally infringing on their copyright(s).

That's not true,at least in the US. Copyright has fair use privisions which allow for "format shifting" which allows for things like ripping CDs to MP3 or copying (but not distributing) data from cartridges to computer.

This is what they were trying to side-step by purchasing the DMCA from Congress, making it illegal to break any anti-copying encryption scheme. GBA games do not contain such schemes.

United States Copyright Law (which is what I have been referencing) does not have any provisions

for space-shifting. In RIAA vs. Diamond Multimedia, it was ruled that space-shifting is legal for personal use, at least regarding music files. However, by downloading a GBA ROM, you are not space-shifting, you are infringing a copyright. It is not from your personally bought cartridge that the data comes from.

That's not what I'm talking about. I'm talking about ripping it off the cartridge onto the computer (with an F2A cable, for instance). Nintendo's bloodsucker claimed that was illegal, and I said it was false.

Even if you have the cartridge in front of your face while you download the ROM, it is still copyright infringement unless the data comes from your cart (which Nintendo says is illegal to do anyways).

#1) They have to prove it didn't come from your cart.
#2) Nintendo doesn't yet override SCOTUS.


Back on Topic:
It looks like GBA emus are safe in Europe! Computer programs excluded from patentability

 

[bacteria]

(I don't believe) an emulator is illegal to write or own, it is only "illegal" to own any ROMS (whether or not you own the original game is unimportant legally) to play on it. It is a bit like owning a speed camera detector gadget in the UK: it is legal to buy one, and own one, but not legal to USE it on the UK roads.

An emulator is never perfect anyway, hence "emulator" not "cloner".

Back onto the subject; if someone writes an emulator it is for the love of it, the fame, and the sharing of the work for other to enjoy, it is not for profit. It people then want to donate as a "thank you", it is a nice bonus for the emulator writers. If there are legal issues, if the emulator is distributed free, without any form of exchange for goods or money, then it is not sold with profit in mind, also of course no-one will know who you are anyway!

 

[iignotus]

http://www.planetgamecube.com/newsArt.cfm?...56D057B62A2B39E

"Now that Nintendo is the sole, legal owner of GBA emulation, any and all emulators are now just as illegal as the ROMs"
WTF, nasty :S

software patents suck

edit: did you notice the date of the article, 04/29/2004 14:24:20, thats a long time ago... never heard of it though.

Just so you know, just because an arsehat lawyer says something, doesn't make it true. Another quote from that asshat is "Whether you have an authentic game or not, it is illegal to copy a Nintendo game from a cartridge or to download and play a Nintendo ROM from the Internet." Which is total FUD.

It is illegal. Nintendo and Nintendo Licensees are the only ones who have the right to copy the data of one copyrighted game to or through any medium. By transferring the contents of that cartridge through a medium you are not licensed to do so, you are illegally infringing on their copyright(s).

That's not true,at least in the US. Copyright has fair use privisions which allow for "format shifting" which allows for things like ripping CDs to MP3 or copying (but not distributing) data from cartridges to computer.

This is what they were trying to side-step by purchasing the DMCA from Congress, making it illegal to break any anti-copying encryption scheme. GBA games do not contain such schemes.

United States Copyright Law (which is what I have been referencing) does not have any provisions

for space-shifting. In RIAA vs. Diamond Multimedia, it was ruled that space-shifting is legal for personal use, at least regarding music files. However, by downloading a GBA ROM, you are not space-shifting, you are infringing a copyright. It is not from your personally bought cartridge that the data comes from.

That's not what I'm talking about. I'm talking about ripping it off the cartridge onto the computer (with an F2A cable, for instance). Nintendo's bloodsucker claimed that was illegal, and I said it was false.

Even if you have the cartridge in front of your face while you download the ROM, it is still copyright infringement unless the data comes from your cart (which Nintendo says is illegal to do anyways).

#1) They have to prove it didn't come from your cart.
#2) Nintendo doesn't yet override SCOTUS.


Back on Topic:
It looks like GBA emus are safe in Europe! Computer programs excluded from patentability

"Whether you have an authentic game or not, it is illegal to copy a Nintendo game from a cartridge or to download and play a Nintendo ROM from the Internet." Which is total FUD.

Well, you did in fact say it, so it was what you were talking about.

Reverse engineering hardware for academic purposes is legal in the USA too. I'm not sure how it got around that nintendo has a patent on a GBA emulator meaning you can't write one at all; it likely only covers commercial applications, so that other companies can't get rich off of Nintendo's franchises.

 

[lippy]

Correct me if I'm wrong (which tends to be more likely then not )I've just read a bit about the No patents for software in Europe (one website: Europe: No patents for Software) and it does indeed look like the emulator patent will not stand in court in Europe. This doesn't mean that Nintendo can't sue, but it does mean that they can't sue on bounds of patent infringement, in other words they'll find it hard to find any grounds to sue on.

Good news then: Europe is your safe!

 

[geise69]

I don't know what all the hubub is worrying about patents and copyright. I don't believe there were any authors of GBA emulators for PC or even the psp to stop. Possibly when emulators came out for pc right when GBA came to the market. I know it's good to be sure, but I seriously doubt Nintendo is gonna care that it's on a GP2X. It's not like there's 5 million GP2x's out there in the hands of kids. Although that would be pretty cool even though they might not know what to do exactly with it.