Quote:
Originally Posted by Ralph Sir Edward
Kali, everything is piracy to you.
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Incorrect.
There are plenty of legitimate actions, including making a digital version of analog content for your own private use, or distributing freeware, shareware, or open source software. That's why I said that if you have the means, you can make your own ROM.
In that post, I am first and foremost pointing out that emulators are purely software, and do not provide you with the capability to access data on an outdated media such as a game cartridge -- i.e. focusing on the format obsolescence. I am absolutely NOT saying that using an emulator stops you from using software that you purchased on another platform. But if that software is on a 5 1/4" floppy and you don't have a floppy drive around, you may be SOL.
As to the "you can pirate a ROM," if you download a copyrighted ROM from the Internets, then yes that's piracy. Making your own ROM using your own hardware is afaik legit, just as is using a USB turntable. But the situation is no different than saying that "I bought the vinyl album, therefore I can go onto Bittorent and download the MP3's." Even if you have a legal and ethical right to convert your analog recording into a digital format, the person who is sharing out that MP3 does not have the right to do so. Thus it is still piracy.
Abandonware or orphaned works are NOT yet in the public domain, even if no one is bothering to enforce the rights -- whether by accident (rights-holder is out of business) or by oversight (someone has the rights but doesn't know about ROMs) or by design (rights-holder knows and allows the otherwise infringing behavior). So let's say I make a Flash version of Super Bomberman; Hudson Soft initially ignores it, but does not explicitly change the licensing or declare it in public domain; then they get bought out. The new owner has the ability to enforce the copyright and demand that I take my Flash version offline, even though previously the company tacitly allowed it.
In fact, as recently as 2007, Atari got into a legal scuffle with RIM over Brick Breaker. Atari holds copyrights on certain games, including one that is arguably similar and gets shipped with the Blackberry handhelds. RIM's response was not that Atari's copyrights were invalid, but rather that the game on the Blackberry handhelds is not a derivative of the Atari game. Ownership of Atari has changed hands many times, by the way, but they never declared bankruptcy, and are still in business and making new games today, including a Star Trek MMORPG and the NeverWinter Nights series. (And those "12 Atari Games in One Controller" things - those games are licensed.) Nor does bankruptcy automatically invalidate copyright; rather, copyrights are an asset that can be sold, and the funds distributed to the creditors, or held by the company in anticipation of the company ending bankruptcy and resuming normal business.
AFAIK the US Copyright office has never officially recognized abandonware; nor is your suggestion consistent with copyright law. It's no different than "orphaned" books in the Google Settlement. In both cases, no matter what the works do not officially go into public domain until their copyright terms end. I.e. if the rights-holder was doing research in the Amazon for 20 years, and returns to the US, there is no doubt they can assert their copyright and demand payment from any publisher than happened to infringe that copyright.