John Bennett
Senior Member
[ukvac] Mame legality
A while ago my local arcade in Greece was running a load of Mame cabs with
games selectable by joystick. One year later when I went back they were gone
and I assume the owner had lucked out with the law.
As I understand it it is illegal to operate a cabinet with Mame in it
because the manufacturer of the game is not receiving a fee, or hasn't been
paid for the game. I am surprised that people do not flaut the law like the
Greek arcade owner.
Who enforces this type of copyright infringement? It must be very difficult
to police. For instance a cabinet in a pub that played a load of classics
isn't going to be discovered by the arcade police is it?
I wonder if in future companies like Namco or Atari (or whoever owns its
ashes) will accept licensing fees from manufacturers who make cabinets full
of vintage games. Could be a nice little earner. New cabs, old games,
licence fees to the original manufacturers, money rolling in. Witness the
rebirth of the golden era of arcades! In fact the 20 year rule (whereby
everything becomes accepted again 20 years on) means that the time is
perfect for a new era.
This would also be a sweet deal for old games manfacturers. Like MP3s for
modern record companies, selling a licence for an old game is pure profit -
there's no hardware to manufacture, and no distribution costs.
I guess the biggest problem would be convincing Namco that its games should
share a cabinet with a load of Atari games. And I wonder about the cost. If
a manufacturer could convince a content provider to sell a licence for use
in the UK of all its games for a viable cost, then we could witness the
birth of a new, profitable, era of video games. I'm excited!
Charlie
DATA Imported from archives: originally posted by Charles Moseley (charles@danbystreet.fslife.co.uk)
A while ago my local arcade in Greece was running a load of Mame cabs with
games selectable by joystick. One year later when I went back they were gone
and I assume the owner had lucked out with the law.
As I understand it it is illegal to operate a cabinet with Mame in it
because the manufacturer of the game is not receiving a fee, or hasn't been
paid for the game. I am surprised that people do not flaut the law like the
Greek arcade owner.
Who enforces this type of copyright infringement? It must be very difficult
to police. For instance a cabinet in a pub that played a load of classics
isn't going to be discovered by the arcade police is it?
I wonder if in future companies like Namco or Atari (or whoever owns its
ashes) will accept licensing fees from manufacturers who make cabinets full
of vintage games. Could be a nice little earner. New cabs, old games,
licence fees to the original manufacturers, money rolling in. Witness the
rebirth of the golden era of arcades! In fact the 20 year rule (whereby
everything becomes accepted again 20 years on) means that the time is
perfect for a new era.
This would also be a sweet deal for old games manfacturers. Like MP3s for
modern record companies, selling a licence for an old game is pure profit -
there's no hardware to manufacture, and no distribution costs.
I guess the biggest problem would be convincing Namco that its games should
share a cabinet with a load of Atari games. And I wonder about the cost. If
a manufacturer could convince a content provider to sell a licence for use
in the UK of all its games for a viable cost, then we could witness the
birth of a new, profitable, era of video games. I'm excited!
Charlie
DATA Imported from archives: originally posted by Charles Moseley (charles@danbystreet.fslife.co.uk)
