Not a crime as such, but how does one dump a ROM without making copy, and how does one get the right to make copies if Nintendo won't license you the content? It's fine to make an policy argument about the the law aught to be, but you can't just ignore what it is.
It's permissible to create a copy for personal use, so long as you don't distribute the copy. Copyright is primarily about distribution of copies, not the making of copies themselves.
Right but that's a small fig leaf for the people who get sued over this who very much are going beyond personal use. Circling back to it's fine to make a policy argument but dumb to flout the law.
No, copyright law is about the exclusive right to make copies, among other rights. In US law this is 17 USC 106.
The reason making a single copy for personal use is generally considered permissible is because: (1) it may be fair use under 17 USC 107, (2) the copyright owner will probably never find out, and (3) even if the copyright owner found out it probably won’t sue over one copy.
No, but usually the physical media (DVD / BluRay / Cartridge) does. The issue comes in how do you legally create the Rom without bypassing copy protections.
Sorry but I believe you have the misconception, at least under US copyright law. There's some extra penalties for commercial use, but there is no general fair use exception for non-commercial use (as apposed to say educational use, which does have a general exception). Feel free to cite a statute or caselaw if I'm wrong.
Copyright is about DISTRIBUTION to others. If you never distribute a copyrighted work to another person there is zero violation of copyright
This is why I am not aware of anyone ever being sue or otherwise held to account for DOWNLOADING copyrighted works. They always Sue over DISTRIBUTION. BitTorrent got the tag of "Sued for downloading" but in reality people were sued for seeding, ie distributing. I am not aware of any leecher that was sued.
Similar of Usenet, Uploaders, and usenet providers get sued, but downloaders?
The entire point of copyright is about preventing unauthorized distribution,
Subject to sections 107 through 122, the owner of copyright under this title has the exclusive rights to do and to authorize any of the following:
(1) to reproduce the copyrighted work in copies or phonorecords;
>This is why I am not aware of anyone ever being sue or otherwise held to account for DOWNLOADING copyrighted works. They always Sue over DISTRIBUTION.
So you must have missed all the filesharing lawsuits over the last 25 years. Lots of people got sued for just downloading, not seeding, just downloading.
I followed them very closely, 99% of them were bit torrent and misreported in the media as "downloading" when in fact if you read the actual cases it was the distribution / uploading that was the bases of the case
Not a crime as such, but how does one dump a ROM without making copy, and how does one get the right to make copies if Nintendo won't license you the content? It's fine to make an policy argument about the the law aught to be, but you can't just ignore what it is.