Originally posted by ForeverSublime:
<STRONG>If people make roms of games, and sell them at cost (no profit)... is it against the law? I believe the purpose of the laws are to make it so that only the parent company profits from their merchandise - correct?
Just curious... I in no way endorse the piracy... never owned pirated SNK stuff... never will.</STRONG>
No, even if you sell it at no profit it's still illegal. In fact the US copyright code (which has the same basis of the international copyright code) SPECIFICALLY says that is not an acceptable method of distributing copyrighted material. Even GIVING IT AWAY...Free...totally. Is illegal, because you are illegally reproducing a copyrighted material.
It's not just so the parent company makes money, or are the ONLY ones to make money, circulating ROMS (in theory, my views on ROMS are very specific and technical) cuts into the market for prospective buyers...and therefore costs SNK the money they would have made if someone had bought a legitimate copy of thier game.
As far as my shirts go...well, first off...aside from myself, I've never sold one single shirt. Not one. <IMG SRC="smilies/smile.gif" border="0">.
Second on that part, SNK never made T-Shirts for the US market, or if they did it was never that wide spride, and it's definately not available today.
So I'm in no way infriging on their rights to produce shirts, or cutting into their profits from said shirts. Are my shirts illegal? I'll say 'yes', but that's a gray area. I created those in Illustrator. It's an artistic representation of a known piece. I'll admit that it doesn't have BOTH characteristcs required for legal protection from Copyright Infringement (that would be
1) An Artistic Recreation/Representation AND
2) Posesses Significant changes from the original.) but I won't deny that the likeness of the Neo•Geo logo is a copyrighted work of art. I do not have permission to use or reproduce it. If SNK or the new Neo•Geo USA want to take this up with me, I'm more than willing to hear what they have to say. But it's commonly understood that SNK doesn't care about fan produced items. If they change thier mind or this knowledge is wrong. I'll remove the shirts from my online store.
The reason I sell my shirts at no profit is three-fold.
1) I don't own the copyright and I wouldn't feel right about doing it. Out of respect.
2) Make it cheaper if anyone wants to buy one.
3) I don't care about the money. It's just something I did in a hour that I hoped against hope that someone somewhere would enjoy...that's not been the case <IMG SRC="smilies/smile.gif" border="0">.
The payment I receive is the joy I get knowing I maybe made someones day. Who knows, by wearing that T-Shirt you may run into another fan! And that's what I really hope happens. It's sorta a way for the fans to passively 'run up the flag and see if you have any allies' in a real world setting......it's actually a pretty sharp looking shirt for being so simple <IMG SRC="smilies/smile.gif" border="0">.