03-23-2004, 04:08 AM
Quote:Emulators and old game roms, are they piracy too? If yes, are those coders and dumpers guilty?
The emulators are not piracy. Owning a dump of a game you own an original copy to is not piracy. This the law has pretty much defined. It hasn't been tried in court to my knowledge so whether or not it will hold up is another ball game. As to whether or not the coders and ROM dumpers are guilty of piracy is a matter to the courts. But this doesn't pertain to Diablo and as such has no bearing to the discussion at hand.
Quote:How can I get to know that whether a game has been put in the public domain or not? Is there any website which gives information on copyrights?
US copyright law used to state that a copyright for a work lasted for the author's lifetime plus 50 years. So if you wanted to publish a song without paying the artist royalties, you couldn't do it until they had been dead for at least 50 years and then only if the copyright was not passed to someone else and had become part of the public domain. I am not sure how long a corporate copyright lasts though.
As far as finding out whether a game has been put in the public domain or not, easiest way is to visit the company's website. If they offer the game free to download, they probably don't care what you do. If they still sell it, chances are you better buy it and not download it if you want to own a legal copy. When the software is not distributed at all anymore is the grey area. Companies love to own things and won't ever sell unless they are paid enough for them, and they will hold onto it as long as they foresee some potential money in the future or if it doesn't cost them anything to let it sit. You can probably even offer it up to download as long as you don't get too popular with people as companies don't like messing with things that cost them more money to fight than what they would gain. Not that this is a license to pirate of course, the company could get ticked and sue you and then you're in trouble.
All that said I do my best to buy original copies, but I'll just have to do without until I can find the copy. That is who I am and my moral position, but that doesn't make it the law or absolute. I just believe what I am doing in not pirating and calling other people out on it is "right" to me, and the law just happens to be on my side ;-)