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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.
:'''*2017''' - Microsoft bans game emulators from the Windows Store.[https://www.theverge.com/2017/4/6/15204138/microsoft-bans-game-emulators-from-the-windows-store]:'''*2023''' - Microsoft cracked down on a loophole in the Xbox Store that allowed emulators to be downloaded and used on Xbox consoles to play older games, including many unavailable on Xbox consoles[https://www.ign.com/articles/microsoft-addresses-xbox-emulator-ban-says-its-based-on-long-standing-policy] and also bans gamers using Retail Mode Emulators on Xbox.[https://www.tomshardware.com/news/microsoft-banning-people-using-emulators-xbox] ===Taito Corporation===*In 2024, a DMCA takedown notice from Taito Corporation, targeting content on [[TeknoParrot]] servers.[https://twitter.com/TeknoParrotEmu/status/1775925817559732444]
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'''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 [[#Not directly about 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==
:'''Action:''' Lawsuit against the for-profit LLC that manages Yuzu and its Patreon
:'''Reason:''' Emulation and personal backups itself (mentioned in passing), Encouraging and engaging in piracy of unreleased leaked games and prominently profiting off it, Yuzu not including AES keys but using them to load encrypted game images, using Nintendo imagery to promote their patreon. Comparisons presenting the emulator as the better alternative. Included guides for unlocking the protection of Switch hardware on the emulator website.
:'''Outcome:''' Settlement. Both Citra (also under the same team and LLC) and Yuzu's online presence and development is discontinued. Tropic Haze was ordered to pay Nintendo $2.4m, retire from developing Yuzu or assisting Citra with development, issue statements denouncing emulation (in public) and claiming any emulation that deals with AES keys is illegal, and submit personal Switch hardware. See [[Yuzu#Lawsuit]]. ::Also, roughly 8K repositories have been wiped[https://twitter.com/antique_codes/status/1785777982495453298][https://github.com/github/dmca/blob/master/2024/04/2024-04-29-nintendo.md]. ::suyu, a fork of yuzu continues from where that project left off on GitLab instead of Github suggested by the community due to potential takedown attempt. However, GitLab still took down the suyu repository due to the use of raw yuzu code. As a result, the suyu team use their own repository. Although their discord channel forced to shut down due to a court order[https://old.reddit.com/r/emulation/comments/1c39xed/suyu_project_freeze_and_court_order/], killing the project. Another fork of yuzu, Sudachi emulator discord channel shut down[https://www.theverge.com/2024/4/11/24127545/discord-suyu-sudachi-server-shutdown-account-ban]. Provenance [[Frontends#Integrated_emulator_types|frontend]] received a DMCA takedown notice[https://twitter.com/provenanceapp/status/1785776471174176898]. See [[Nintendo Switch emulators#Comparisons]] section.
====Pressured====
;2023 - Yuzu (Switch) / various Youtube channels vs. Nintendo
:'''Action:''' Copyright take-down notices against videos promoting emulation of the Nintendo Switch for the following cases: Kotaku (game journalists) encouraging people to pirate leaked copies of Metroid Dread and Zelda Tears of the Kingdom after Nintendo denied them review copies (NoA Nintendo of America took down the very video used in the article), Multiplayer mod for Zelda Breath of the Wild promoted on the Youtube channel of the mod author, and others.
:'''Reason:''' Generic copyrighted audiovisual content DMCA justification (Game footage)
:'''Outcome:''' No further retaliation from Nintendo against either Yuzu or the YouTube channels. Zelda Multiplayer mod shut down the project pre-emptively to avoid further trouble.
Sega later collaborated with a huge number of fan emulation developers for their countless retro collections, both from Japan and elsewhere. Albeit some exclusive content was later on tampered with to prevent its compatibility with third-party emulators, to limit piracy and unauthorized resellers. Ex-Sega of Japan developers also worked on fan emulators. A lot of developer interviews by Sega developers discuss common emulation topics like input delay and CRT shaders and screen scales.
===Apple===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. ==Not directly about Related to emulation==Dumping tools, copying home media and home video content, media player softwares with optical discs encryption and copy [[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]] (Lockpick_RCM taken down by Nintendo DMCA), [[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/]
===Atari===
:*The court's definition of fair use remains influential in software copyright cases today. '''Fair use''': Compatible products can exist without infringing upon copyrighted material, as long as they meet the criteria of fair use.
:*Although not directly related to emulation, this case set a precedent that indirectly affects emulation by clarifying the legal boundaries of software compatibility and copyright protection, which are relevant to the creation and distribution of emulators.
;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]. 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===
:'''Reason:''' Violation of California consumer laws by allowing customers to purchase electronic media content at a higher fee than rented content, when the purchased content might become unavailable to the consumer at a later date.
:'''Outcome:''' The court grants defendant's motion to dismiss.
===Bandai Namco===
*2024 - Notice of Infringement tekkenmods.com[https://twitter.com/DennisStanistan/status/1777610181217513979].
===Internet Archive===
;2023 - Hachette Book Group, Inc. v. Internet Archive[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hachette_v._Internet_Archive]
:'''Action:''' Hachette Book Group, along with Penguin Random House, HarperCollins, and Wiley, sued the Internet Archive in June 2020.
:'''Reason:''' The publishers argued that the Internet Archive's programs, Open Library and National Emergency Library (NEL), infringed on their copyrights. The lawsuit focused on the practice of "controlled digital lending" (CDL) where the Archive scanned and lent digital copies of books from their collections, even if those books were still under copyright. The publishers argued this wasn't fair use and cut into their potential sales.
:'''Outcome;'''
:*March 2023: The court ruled against the Internet Archive, finding CDL in this case wasn't protected by fair use.
:*August 2023: A negotiated settlement was reached. The Internet Archive agreed to stop lending digital copies of ebooks on which the publishers held copyright.
:*September 2023: The Internet Archive appealed the court's decision. The case is ongoing.
===Sony===
:*The concept of "fair use" was not directly addressed in this case, but the Court's emphasis on non-infringing uses laid the groundwork for future fair use arguments related to new technologies.
:*While not directly about emulation, this case set a precedent regarding the potential liability of technology companies for the actions of their users, which has indirect implications for emulation and the legal discussion around emulators and copyright infringement.
:*See also [https://youtu.be/-VqsU1VK3mU Technology Connections: Macrovision - The [Copy Protection in VHSprotection]]page.
===Nintendo===
*Various [[Game engine recreations and source ports]] projects taken down by Nintendo recently. *::'''Link's Awakening DX HD''': placeholder text A complete remake written in C# of the original 2D GBC game that was uploaded by an anonymous user to itch.io. It featured widescreen support and the ability to scale the map, making it possible to view the entire map (with moving sprites) on one screen. It was online for roughly 4 days before it was inevitable taken down for including copyrighted assets, however the source code was included with the game and it has since been re-uploaded to various place. - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pmYgEqsds_M*::'''Portal 64''': Original project taken down due to Nintendo's tools used for building the game for Nintendo 64, new one (Project Portal 64: Still Alive) aiming to remove the requirement on proprietary code.
*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]*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].
===Rockstar===
===Microsoft===
==Avoiding==
*[https://old.reddit.com/r/emulation/comments/rtlceo/mame_is_officially_dropping_support_for_akai/ MAME is officially dropping support for Akai Katana and Dodonpachi Saidaioujou after C&D from Exa Arcadia]
*[[yuzu]] removes Raptor Network support and shut down the server as well[https://old.reddit.com/r/emulation/comments/jndzdf/yuzu_removes_raptor_online_support/]. One of the potential reason was Nintendo is quite aggressive with C&D's, especially when it's something that is a '''current product of theirs''', so it was no surprise. See [[Nintendo Switch Online#Emulation of the service]] and [[Preservation projects#Private Platform Servers]].
*[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Clean_room_design Clean room design]
==See also==
*[[Licensing]]
*[[History of emulation]]
*[[Copy protection]]
==External links==
*[https://aftermath.site/pokemon-lawyer-cease-desist-fan-project-pikachu-movie Aftermath - What I Do: Pokémon’s Former Chief Lawyer On Shutting Down Fan Games & Honeymoon Business Deals]
*[[Wikipedia:Right_to_repair|Wikipedia - Right to repair]]
*[https://github.com/github/dmca/tree/master Github Repository with text of DMCA takedown notices as received]
[[Category:FAQs]]
