Re:Did Nintendo download a Mario ROM and sell it back to us?
by detaro on Sunday January 22, 2017 @08:42PM
(#13459021)
> The code inside, the header which EVERY EMULATOR USES, is the unique thing, and can be protected.
In my interpretation the bytes in the file are just a description of facts, and it is highly unlikely that the act of writing down facts about the cartridge in a specific way is enough to create a work on its own that could be protected. Calling them "code" IMHO would be quite misleading, since that would lead to confusion with a program or the executable code in the image. (Larger data sets/ROM collections might be protectable under database copyright laws in jurisdictions where those exist)
Just to be sure: If you mean a software implementation reading/writing said header, that of course could have copyright protection.
> By the way, every ROM ripping tool explicitly states "Non-commercial purposes"
There are open-source (BSD licensed) tools that have no such limitations.
In my interpretation the bytes in the file are just a description of facts, and it is highly unlikely that the act of writing down facts about the cartridge in a specific way is enough to create a work on its own that could be protected. Calling them "code" IMHO would be quite misleading, since that would lead to confusion with a program or the executable code in the image. (Larger data sets/ROM collections might be protectable under database copyright laws in jurisdictions where those exist)
Just to be sure: If you mean a software implementation reading/writing said header, that of course could have copyright protection.
> By the way, every ROM ripping tool explicitly states "Non-commercial purposes"
There are open-source (BSD licensed) tools that have no such limitations.