Dear Nintendo,

As you are no doubt aware, there is a small but enthusiastic emulation community on the internet.  I'm contacting you because I would like to get some official word from Nintendo about the legality of distributing ROM images (to be used on emulators).

Is it legal to distribute ROM images of Nintendo's software?  I'm asking this because several companies have already gone on record to say that it is all right to distribute ROM images as long as they are not being sold and no one is in any way gaining profit.  Some companies such as Gremlin Interactive and Beam Software have not only given their permission to distribute ROM images of their software, but have actually started to distribute ROM images themselves on their own web pages.

Does Nintendo have a position on this issue?

Keep in mind that the people involved in the emulation scene are not out to make money or pirate software.  Rather, we have all grown up playing video games and we simply want to keep these great classics you've created alive.

Thank you for your attention to this matter.

[name withheld]
 
 

Hello.

Emulators for any Nintendo systems are illegal, and ROM images of any game containing Nintendo-copyrighted material are also illegal.  Nintendo has an international team of lawyers who pursue and prosecute those who distribute such illegal products.

For more information, contact Nintendo's legal department.

Nintendo of America Inc.
Greg Wallace

Nintendo's home page: http://www.nintendo.com/
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Dear Sirs,
I have a question which perhaps you could forward to the correct source.  While reading newsgroups and visiting pages pertaining to Nintendo I found some containing information on Nintendo emulators. These are emulators capable of running the original 8-bit rom information on a standard PC.  The people have made various disclaimers to the extent of these can not be down-loaded unless one owns the original game.  As this is a somewhat interesting prospect for nostalgic purposes I was questioning the actual legality of the matter.  People argue that because these games are no longer produced that it is in a gray area of sorts.  Any information on this would be appreciated.

Sincerely,
[name withheld]

Hi,
The emulators you speak of fall into the same category of any of the number of illegal products that can be used to illegally distribute copyrighted software.  Due to the durability of game cartridges, there is no need to make backup copies, as some software distributors allow.  "PC Copy Devices," or "Consoles," are electronic devices that illegally copy Nintendo video games from cartridges onto floppy disks.  The prevalent PC copy devices are currently being sold under the designations "Super Magicom," "Multi-Game Doctor II," "Multi-Game Hunter," "Super Com Pro.1," "Twin Super Com Pro.5," "Game Doctor SF," "UFO Super Drive," and "Super Disk Interceptor."  Many of the devices are manufactured in Taiwan or Hong Kong.

Most of these products are copying devices that sit on top of and plug into a Nintendo video game hardware unit.  These products copy video game information stored in ROM ("Read Only Memory") chips in Nintendo video game cartridges onto floppy disks.  The copy devices are able to receive either Japanese-style, 60-pin video game cartridges or American/other-style, 72-pin video game cartridges.  Once the video games have been copied, these devices access game information from the floppy disk copy using a Nintendo video game hardware unit.  The copying of copyrighted Nintendo and Nintendo-licensee software in this manner is illegal and in violation of federal laws.  In addition, the importation, distribution, sale, or purchase of these copy devices is illegal.

The United States District Court for the Central District of California in the case Nintendo of America Inc. v. Jim Tsan Yih Huang, d/b/a Japan Video and the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York in the case Nintendo of America Inc. v. Tokyo Shop of USA and Danny S. Lee, have found copy devices to infringe Nintendo's intellectual property rights.  These courts have issued permanent injunctions against the companies which produce them.  In addition, the U.S. Customs service has determined that these devices are illegal and contrary to law.  U.S. Customs has the authority to and will seize any of the devices that are imported into the U.S.

Nintendo and other software companies also participated in recent legal actions against an electronic bulletin board which made available for "download" such illegally copied disks containing Nintendo video games.  The exchange or transmission of copyrighted Nintendo video games on bulletin boards is illegal.

This type of piracy hurts not only Nintendo, but also our players and the legitimate businesses connected with Nintendo.  We appreciate those, like you, who provide us with information on illegal matters such as this.

Nintendo of America Inc.
Mike Chandler

Nintendo's home page: http://www.nintendo.com/
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