Are emulators illegal? A Nintendo lawyer intervenes – Ruetir

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Koji Nishiura, one of the most important lawyers at Nintendo, recently made statements, as revealed by Automation Media, which aim to shed light on the role of emulators and emulation in the world of modern video games. Nintendo is in fact no stranger to declarations and legal actions regarding rom sites and real emulators which, through the company’s intervention, have often been dismantled.

These statements allow us to have a very clear picture of the illegal factor behind the emulators and the motivations that have pushed the Japanese giant to take sides against the latter on several occasions.

Nintendo Emulators

Let’s get to the point: are copycats illegal or not? In truth, it depends on the use made of them, as the latter are almost never illegal in themselves. If the emulator completely copies the system of a marketed platform, we are faced with the “breakage” of a protected system and therefore the violation of the Japan Competition Prevention Act.

The lawyer continues:

Another situation in which illegality occurs concerns those emulators that contain hyperlinks to internet pages or archives from which pirated copies of video games can be illegally downloaded.

The thin thread between illegality and legality of emulation continues to intrigue the gaming community. At the moment, Nintendo finds itself in the situation of defending itself from a series of leaks that seem to have practically anticipated the launch of its new console.

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