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placeholder textThe downloading and distribution of ROMs in most jurisdictions is considered a violation of copyright laws, with the exception of ROMs licensed in the Public Domain or other licenses that allow distribution. This also applies to other copyrighted material such as BIOS files.
→Related to emulation
'''This page will try and document some notable incidents regarding the legal status of emulation. Nothing in this page should be considered legal advice.'''
The legality of using encryption keys for emulators or accessing personal video collections is a debated topic. These keys, typically generated by random number algorithms, are not subject to copyright protection unlike creative content. In the realm of DVDs, Blu-rays, and HD DVDs, the question arises: should using open-source software to decode, watch, or back up your legally acquired video collection be restricted due to these non-copyrightable encryption keys? See the [[#Related_to_emulation|related to emulation]] section for the home media and home video realm.
There are even political parties, such as the [[Wikipedia:Pirate Party UK|Pirate Party UK]], whose core policies focus on reforming copyright and patent laws[https://old.reddit.com/r/emulation/comments/1bbn3bw/defending_emulation_rights_and_challenging/], supporting privacy, reducing government and business surveillance, and championing freedom of speech and expression.
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==Notable Legal Incidents==
==Related to emulation==
Dumping tools, box art and other artwork stuff, screenshots, copying home media and home video content, media player softwares with optical discs encryption and [[Copy protection]] techniques and codec situations since all of them are somewhat related to emulation, either directly or indirectly. Copyright infringement and attempts to remove infringing content through the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA) have been ongoing issues in the [[Home_Media_Player|home media and home video]] (especially VCR), [[Ripping_games|dumping tools]], [[Home_Media_Player#Media_player_softwareCopy protection|media player softwares with circumvention of optical discs disc encryption and [[Copy protection]] techniques, codec situations]] (HD-DVD and Blu-Ray disc support etc.)
===2K===
*2024 - WWE 2K24 has unbanned modder WhatsTheStatus following complaints from its community. [https://twitter.com/WhatsTheStatus WhatsTheStatus] - who was banned for "violation of terms" - revealed on Twitter/X that, after speaking with 2K and the WWE team, they had "come to an agreement, and a fair one at that". Originally, 2K and/or developer Visual Concepts was unhappy with WhatsTheStatus' mods, saying that as they "negatively impact the game experience for other players", the modder was banned in order to ensure there is a "positive WWE 2K24 experience for all players".[https://www.eurogamer.net/wwe-2k24-u-turns-on-modder-ban-following-community-backlash][https://old.reddit.com/r/WWEGames/comments/1ce39kx/wwe_2k24_x_whatsthestatus/]
;2010~
*Quite infamously, Apple hires anyone behind a promising iPhone emulator or compatibility layer, and it almost always gets shut down and scrubbed off the face of the Internet.
*Apple used to have a really strict rule about emulators not being allowed on the App Store, however, there have been some recent developments suggesting a relaxation of this policy[https://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2024/04/apple-now-allows-retro-game-emulators-on-its-app-store-but-with-big-caveats/][https://old.reddit.com/r/emulation/comments/1bwtwb1/apple_app_store_guidelines_updated_emulators_now/]. Although some of the developers from emulation community stated that the platform is still not attractive for emulators for various reasons[https://www.ppsspp.org/news/apple-announcement-comment/][https://twitter.com/MikageEmu/status/1776558775064760798][https://oatmealdome.me/blog/why-dolphin-isnt-coming-to-the-app-store/][https://dolphin-emu.org/blog/2024/04/30/dolphin-progress-report-february-march-and-april-2024/#why-dolphin-isnt-coming-to-the-ios-app-store], but for others it's good enough to release their projects[https://www.theverge.com/2024/4/19/24134767/emulators-iphone-delta-google-meta-ai-vergecast-podcast][https://old.reddit.com/r/emulation/comments/1c6go36/delta_emulator_now_live_on_the_app_store/][https://github.com/yoshisuga/MAME4iOS/issues/457][https://www.ppsspp.org/news/live-on-app-store/][https://www.libretro.com/index.php/retroarch-on-apple-app-store/]. Overall, there is some uncertainty about how the new App Store policies will affect emulators. Some developers believe that the new policies will make no difference, while others are more optimistic. It remains to be seen how Apple will interpret their own rules.
===Amazon===
*A total of 379 fan-made games have been removed from gaming website and hosting service Game Jolt after Nintendo of America issued a mass DMCA takedown.[https://www.nintendolife.com/news/2021/01/nintendo_issues_mass_dmca_takedown_379_fan-made_games_forcibly_removed]
*Lots of ROM sites taken down by Nintendo. Funny thing is they allegedly downloaded and sold a rom back to customers.[https://www.eurogamer.net/articles/2017-01-18-did-nintendo-download-a-mario-rom-and-sell-it-back-to-us]. In May 15, 2024 Nintendo of America has requested for 717 games and their images to be removed from Vimm - The Vault[https://vimm.net/bbs/?p=viewPost&Post=33301].
*Lockpick_RCM repository taken down by Nintendo DMCA[https://wololo.net/2023/05/10/switch-lockpick_rcm-and-fork-repositories-taken-down-by-dmca-request/].
*Garry’s Mod is taking down (DMCA) decades of Nintendo-related add-ons[https://old.reddit.com/r/Games/comments/1ccte1x/garry_newman_confirms_that_the_garrys_mod_dmca/][https://www.theverge.com/2024/4/25/24140246/garrys-mod-nintendo-copyright-takedowns-dmca].
