[Odin]

Originally Posted by Odin

The legality of the emulator has a similar set of rules: The part of the software that actually emulates the original hardware is completely legitimate to own, whether you own the hardware or not. However because most emulators also contain a copy of the platform's firmware, this is covered under copyright rules. Firmware is software, therefore you must own the original hardware, with its original firmware to legally run the emulator. Like the cartridge data the hardware need not be functional. There are a few exceptions, such as an emulator for a Atari 2600. This is because that was an extremely simple device that had no internal firmware. This is a rare exception.

Originally Posted by iPhantom

Emulators do not come with BIOS included, therefore they are totally legal.

No ... not totally legal! This is a very big gray area within the law, and it's legal verdict lies within how each emulator is developed. This is concept that is a little hard for some people to grasp.

Basically there are two ways of emulating the firmware of a system. The first type is to use an actual copy of the original firmware, and the emulator software only emulates the hardware. With this type of system the same copyright constants that dictate the copying of the game software apply to the firmware. (In other words you must own the hardware, before it is legal)

The other type of emulation is one that only mimics the system firmware. However it shares 0% of the actual code. This type of system may or may not be legal. It largely depends on how the code for the emulator was developed. Generally to be legal, the emulated firmware must be developed using "clean room development" techniques. This envolves using at least two software engineers or groups of engineers. The first group examines and deciphers the functions of the original product. They then write a specification of how a firmware should behave. This specification must be free of any code or programing techniques. Then that specification and only that specification is handed to the second engineering team. The second team must never be allowed any details of the original software, this way they can develop a new firmware without any copyrighted contamination. This type of development, if done correctly, can be totally legal.

Even with this type of development, there is no guarantee of legitimacy, and it largly depends on the exact procedures followed. It is quite essential that developers who engage in this type of reverse engineering be very diligent in the recording of the procedure and all development steps. This is how the WINE software for linux was developed as well as the ReactOS operating system. The technique was also one of the cornerstone in the famous, "Sony Computer Entertainment, Inc. v. Connectix Corporation" over "Virtual Game Station" emulation software. This is the commercial software that has mentioned several times in this thread. Sony initially won the case, however parts of it were over turned on appeal and handed back to a lower court. Sony, however, bought Connectix before the retrial.

Originally Posted by MissMisa

No, it's not legal.

Despite what people think, the majority of the time it isn't even legal to own a copy of a ROM even if you own the game. The law states that you can't distribute ROMs unless you own the rights to them, so 99% of the time the ROMs are downloadeded from illegal, illegitimate sites.

That is correct. Even if you own the original hardware, you have no rights to distribute it to anyone else. You only have rights to make a copy for your own use!