Linux has driven me to buy Windows Vista

[D. Hugh Redelmeier]

| From: Tyler Aviss <tjaviss-Re5JQEeQqe8AvxtiuMwx3w at public.gmane.org>

| Anyone know what the legality of emulators+ROMS for these old games
| would be? Would the copyright have expired on them (I believe that NES
| is covered by it's been a long time since Intellivision/Atari produced
| that stuff).

Copyright seems to go on forever.  Especially in the US.  I'm not
joking.  Whenever anything is about to have its copyright expire,
the US extends the length of copyright.
  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Copyright_Term_Extension_Act
Those carts would be copyright for 95 years from creation in the US.

There is pressure to make copyright terms in all countries the same
and to make that term equal to the longest of existing terms in any
country.  This is the kind of pressure to which most countries seem to
acquiesce.  This is an example of policy laundering (a lovely term)
  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Policy_Laundering

| I think we're straying a bit off-topic from Linux, so I'll add to that:

No, we are not.  Copyright, including duration, has a large effect on
Linux and opens source software and how we are allowed to use
"content".

The holders of the copyrights on many old carts cannot be found so it
may be impossible to legally copy them (as is essentially necessary to
use them on a new platform).

| Best emulators for 'nix:
| Zsnes on 'nix is pretty good for most games. I believe you're still
| legit if you own the original carts.

No, this would not be legit in a strict reading of copyright legislation.

I do think that it would be unethical and immoral to do so.

| I've also used "epsxe" with some success. It can play PS games
| straight from the CD.

The industry would claim that even this would be a violation.  I would
guess that a court case in Canada would show that their theory was
wrong, but IANAL.

The new Canadian copyright Act (which died on the order paper when
Harper called the last election) would have made that illegal because
it involves circumvention of Digital Rights Management measures.  This
act is likely to appear again in the next session of parliament.

Copyright law is a disaster and it is likely to get worse.
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