If they make anothe Earthbound and it doesn't come to the US...

[Khuutra]

noname2200 said:

No, they are. Courts have not directly ruled on ROMs themselves, but the current consensus is to analogize them to VCRs, which were legally challenged by the movie studios in the 70's. In 1984, the Supreme Court in essence said that federal copyright law is not violated if the material is not used for profit. Sony v. Universal City Studios, 464 U.S. 417 (1984).

From the Westlaw headnotes:

Copyright protection subsists in original works of authorship fixed in any tangible medium of expression, however, this protection has never accorded copyright owner complete control over all possible uses of his work; rather, Copyright Act grants copyright holder exclusive rights to use and to authorize the use of his work in five qualified ways, including reproduction of copyrighted work in copies. Lanham Trade-Mark Act, § 43(a), 15 U.S.C.A. § 1125(a); 17 U.S.C.A. § 101 et seq.

Any individual may reproduce a copyrighted work for a “fair use,” copyright owner does not possess exclusive right to such a use. 17 U.S.C.A. § 106.

Now, the Digital Millenium Copyright Act threw a wrinkle into this situation when it (in essence) outlawed many of the devices you would use to make a ROM in the first place. However, the ROM itself remains legal. It's kind of like those laws that say it's illegal to purchase something, but are silent on the right to possess it.

...I learned something today.