And, as mentioned before, itвЂ™s unlikely a firm will call copyright infringement on a game if no company own the rights to it, or if no one really cares about the game.Д«ut what about the games people and companies do care about? It turns out, youвЂ™re welcome to emulate any game for backup, so long as itвЂ™s not used for commercial use. Emulating a Game LegallyДЇor the most part, emulators in and of themselves do not fall under any copyright infringement, depending on their purpose. And owners are lately deciding to enforce because theyвЂ™re able to have a revival of selling these games on mobile.'Д«ut as Kane pointed out, if thereвЂ™s no company to stand up and claim ownership of the game, itвЂ™s likely that nothing will happen to a gamer who downloads an emulated version. People might tolerate the emulation of certain games, вЂ¦ but if the actual owner decides to enforce against you, then you would be in the wrong.

It comes down to enforcement, at the end of the day. вЂњSomeone owns it, but determining that chain of title is often difficult. вЂњIf it was a real video game company - and the games people cared about were from real video game companies - someone bought those assetsвЂ¦out of bankruptcy,вЂќ Boyd explained. Thus, downloading it from a ROM hosting site would be a form of copyright infringement. вЂњThere are no hard-and-fast categories, but youвЂ™re on somewhat safer ground there, especially if the game is no longer sold and thereвЂ™s no easy way to get it in playable form,вЂќ Stoltz said.Д«ut often, defunct companiesвЂ™ assets are purchased, so even if the company no longer exists, some other firm may own the right to their game(s). In these cases, thereвЂ™s a stronger claim for emulating to fall under fair use. One reason people may seek an emulated ROM game is because the company that made it no longer exists, making the title hard to find. вЂњThe nostalgic early video games are probably going to be under copyright until at least when their original players are in their 60s and 70s,вЂќ Boyd said. Plus, every 20-30 years copyright statutes are reevaluated. Things like where and when the game was made and who owns it are all factors. You can see how much situations vary here.

Determining exactly how long a video game copyright can last is complicated, though. Gregory Boyd, partner and co-chair of the Interactive Entertainment Group at Frankfurt Kurnit. But Kane could not immediately think of any examples of companies doing this over emulated video games.ДЄnd if youвЂ™re waiting for some of the oldest games to enter the public domain, youвЂ™ll be waiting for a while - вЂњdecades, and decades and decades,вЂќ according to S.

Kane noted, however, that there are companies that take these things вЂњvery seriously,вЂќ and there have been cases where companies sued individuals for downloading something, even if it was for non-commercial use. вЂњI think itвЂ™d be rare and approaching never that they go after individual downloaders,вЂќ he said.

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