I Own The Board , legal on Mame ?

ScumBum

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So whats the deal with Mame ?

If you own the actual game PCB board , is it legal for you to play the roms on Mame ?
 
yes then the roms would be considered a backup copy for your board. you do not have to rip and encode yourself , there is no way to tell if you did or did not
 
yes then the roms would be considered a backup copy for your board. you do not have to rip and encode yourself , there is no way to tell if you did or did not

I heard that the DMCA only allows a copy for backup, not for entertainment. Either way, MAME is nothing to worry about unless you are trying to make money off of it.
 
I don't think there is a cut and dried way to make it legal (other than the free roms that the mame team has the right to distribute).
 
The whole 'backup' thing is just somebody's speculation, it's never been proven or tried in court. Basically, it's illegal to play copyrighted games on it. Period, point, blank. It doesn't matter if it's a backup, or you've got some crusty broken board, or a fully working machine, it's all illegal.

Now, they're never going to do anythign to you or be able to take you to court, so play away. Hell, operate if somewhere if you want.

Don't be under any pretenses though that you're actually not breaking the law, lol.
 
This is from the Mame website :

Q. Is it legal to download ROMs for a game when I own the PCB?
A. This is unclear and depends on where you live. In most cases you would need to obtain permission from the original manufacturer to do so.

its unclear ? You would think the guys from Mame would figure this out ,
 
You can legally download a ROM image for any game on any system, including Arcade (MAME). The only stipulation is that you are supposed to delete it within 24 hours after initial download, unless you own the original hardware, in which case its perfectly legal to store the image..
 
^^ I realize that's the common understanding, but it has never been tested or decided in court. What you just said is one person's understanding of it. There's no legal precedent that allows you to download and try out someone's copyright.

For instance, you can't download the new windows as long as you delete it after a day. That's rediculous.

You also can't download a copy of the new windows and store it somewhere just because you have a legitimate copy of it. That's also rediculous.

Until a judge decides that any of that is true, it's all hearsay and just the stories people have passed around.
 
no different than downloading and playing an mp3 without paying for it. as long as you arent making money off it, nobody cares, really. i remember when they said tape trading was killing the music industry, or that VCRs would put TV stations out of business. maybe if the copyright owners made the roms available legally people would pay for them. the same concept is working for itunes with music.
 
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