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Forums - Gaming Discussion - Is emulating acceptable?

 

Title

Yes 126 47.19%
 
If the game is owned 62 23.22%
 
If both the game and console is owned 40 14.98%
 
No 39 14.61%
 
Total:267
AsGryffynn on 26 April 2017
SvennoJ said:
AsGryffynn said:

I was indeed referring to abandonware, which most games from the fifth generation and below are. Legally it's also alright, as though there are laws in place to protect the piracy of content, use of a product which is no longer in production falls under fair use. 

Afaik fair use has more to do with using part of copyrighted material (referencing) for your own work, for example let's play videos. I'm not aware on how that's different for material that's out of print. Legally it's 70 years or so after the product was made before it enters public domain.

Morally abandonware is considered fair to use. Legally, downloading abandonware is still considered piracy, yet no one will sue.
http://www.makeuseof.com/tag/what-is-abandonware-and-is-it-legal/

Since I actually do legal stuff, I will point out this is because these laws usually apply to other forms of content, which might still have a version available in some form. The only reason the rule is that way is because no one has bothered to bring up abandonware as an issue. Most companies don't bother and individuals don't care, but at this point, morality and rulings overlap and allow you to download pirated content legally.