After shutting down several popular emulators, Nintendo admits emulation is legal

[Kaz]

 

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Last year was rough for emulation, with Nintendo pressuring and shutting down several emulation projects like Yuzu, Citra, and Ryujinx. However, none of these cases went to court, so the legal status of emulation is still largely untested. And now, we might know why.

At the Tokyo eSports Festa earlier this week, top lawyers and intellectual property leaders from Capcom, Koei, Sega, Konami, and Nintendo discussed a variety of issues concerning copyright and IP in the gaming industry (via Denfaminico Gamer). Regarding emulators, patent attorney and deputy general manager of Nintendo’s intellectual property department, Koji Nishiura, agreed that they are, technically, completely legal.

However, there are still a number of ways that emulators can violate the law. For example, the Nintendo Switch has certain “technical restriction measures” that prevent it from playing pirated games. If a Switch emulator seeks to bypass those measures, it opens itself up to legal trouble.

Nintendo just admitted that emulators are, technically, legal - Android Authority

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After shutting down several popular emulators over the years, Nintendo's top IP lawyer just admitted that emulators are legal.

 

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DMCA Section 1201(a)(1)(A): “No person shall circumvent a technological measure that effectively controls access to a work protected under this title.” That law is more than 26 years old, going into effect a month after Google was founded, but the language remains in place.

Nintendo has been fighting it on these grounds and that they often point to rom sites.  They are more than willing to drag people through court and all the financial burdens associated with it.  Nintendo has money for lawyers, most devs do not.  This does leave room for an emulator to become legal, but they would have to stand their ground against Nintendo's legal firm.