Last time I presented a short text snippet taken from an instruction booklet (Donkey Kong Country) and only briefly commented it. I repeat my translation of this text:
"Warning
Copying Nintendo-games is illegal and violates German and international copyright laws. This is also valid for so-called backup copies, whose production is incidentally not necessary in any way. Every copying of games will be prosecuted by Nintendo."
Okay, let’s analyze Nintendo’s claims/propositions in detail:
This is really easy. If somebody bought a legit cartridge of Donkey Kong Country and copies the content of the rom-chip (for his/her own usage) and keeps the original cartridge this is indeed a backup copy and not a so-called backup copy. This is impudent. Bah! So-called backup copy.
I do not know enough about international laws, so I focus on the German ones. Downloading copyrighted materials violates German copyright laws. Yes. This is very true. Borrowing games from friends, copying them and then giving them back is clearly forbidden too. No discussion about that. All clear.
But what about backing up my own cartridge? There is this thing with the anti-circumvention laws… and Donkey Kong Country uses a form of copy protection. It writes to an address in SRAM higher than 2KB. This fails on the original cartridge and succeeds on old copiers which provide more space, for games that have more SRAM.
If more than 2KB SRAM → BOOM! Show stupid copyright screen. "It's a serious crime to copy video games… and so on."
DKC is copy protected. But the anti-circumvention law is not relevant for software in Germany. I am not a lawyer, so I may not give legal advise. But I can read the laws. I use common sense (although this might not be a good idea when it comes to laws) and express my opinion - free speech. Look at the following copyright laws from the "Urheberrechtsgesetz". I will not provide a full translation; Correct translation of laws is a nightmare and I’m not remotely skilled enough to do it:
Urheberrechtsgesetz(UrhG):
§95a:
This is the anti-circumvention law. It sounds like this: "You may not copy any copyrighted material if it is somehow ‘effectively’ copy-protected and you may not circumvent protection. Blablabla." It is not defined what is effective in the sense of this law (really clever, huh?).
§69a:
(5) The regulations in (many different §§) and §95a to §95d are not applicable on computer programs.
§69d:
(2) Producing a backup copy (by a person authorized to use the software) may not be contractually forbidden if it (the backup) is necessary to ensure future usability/availability.
A video game is a computer program. Good. But what about the necessity of backups?
Mask ROM is very persistent. I have a lot of Nintendo games. None of the roms (the chips) has shown any malfunctions so far. Nintendo cartridges are long-lived. To a lesser extend this is also true for the consoles. I do not have any Nintendo equipment, that failed electronically due to its age. This is so awesome! Even the save battery (wear part!) in Zelda II, the stamp on the battery says 1989, is fully operational.
The control sticks in N64 controllers wear easily and I read about bad capacitors in the N64 power supply (mine are still working tough, so no need to solder yet). The 72 pin connectors in my NES consoles are a little worn-out, and the mechanic for holding down the cartridge is not perfect anymore, but everything works.
So they are in fact right. Right? It is completely unnecessary to make copies. Wrong. Incredibly wrong! Eventually the consoles will fail. It’s a matter of time.
And guess what: The TV I had in the 90s is already broken. Oh, it broke long ago. Repairing was impossible: No parts available. And the next TV is also busted for the same reason. I looked at the TVs not long ago in an electronic store. Some do not have any analog input connectors anymore. So in a few years, when my current TV gives up the ghost, I will have to get an analog/digital converter to get HDMI output for the old consoles. If these converters still exist then. And if there is a model without much delay so games are playable. It may be possible to service/repair and keep the consoles usable for some more time. But it gets more and more complicated. As much as I love the old machines, at some point using an emulator is just the easiest way. Not everybody wants to invest much time (and money) in old equipment. I try my best, but there is only so much I am able to do.
Conclusion: The text in the manual is complete nonsense.
But this is not the end. No. Nintendo is telling us more rubbish. Not in this old instruction manual. On their current German website.
"Warning
Copying Nintendo-games is illegal and violates German and international copyright laws. This is also valid for so-called backup copies, whose production is incidentally not necessary in any way. Every copying of games will be prosecuted by Nintendo."
Okay, let’s analyze Nintendo’s claims/propositions in detail:
’1. Copying a Nintendo game I own is a so-called backup copy.’
This is really easy. If somebody bought a legit cartridge of Donkey Kong Country and copies the content of the rom-chip (for his/her own usage) and keeps the original cartridge this is indeed a backup copy and not a so-called backup copy. This is impudent. Bah! So-called backup copy.
’2. Copying Nintendo games violates German copyright laws.’
I do not know enough about international laws, so I focus on the German ones. Downloading copyrighted materials violates German copyright laws. Yes. This is very true. Borrowing games from friends, copying them and then giving them back is clearly forbidden too. No discussion about that. All clear.
But what about backing up my own cartridge? There is this thing with the anti-circumvention laws… and Donkey Kong Country uses a form of copy protection. It writes to an address in SRAM higher than 2KB. This fails on the original cartridge and succeeds on old copiers which provide more space, for games that have more SRAM.
If more than 2KB SRAM → BOOM! Show stupid copyright screen. "It's a serious crime to copy video games… and so on."
DKC is copy protected. But the anti-circumvention law is not relevant for software in Germany. I am not a lawyer, so I may not give legal advise. But I can read the laws. I use common sense (although this might not be a good idea when it comes to laws) and express my opinion - free speech. Look at the following copyright laws from the "Urheberrechtsgesetz". I will not provide a full translation; Correct translation of laws is a nightmare and I’m not remotely skilled enough to do it:
Urheberrechtsgesetz(UrhG):
§95a:
This is the anti-circumvention law. It sounds like this: "You may not copy any copyrighted material if it is somehow ‘effectively’ copy-protected and you may not circumvent protection. Blablabla." It is not defined what is effective in the sense of this law (really clever, huh?).
§69a:
(5) The regulations in (many different §§) and §95a to §95d are not applicable on computer programs.
§69d:
(2) Producing a backup copy (by a person authorized to use the software) may not be contractually forbidden if it (the backup) is necessary to ensure future usability/availability.
A video game is a computer program. Good. But what about the necessity of backups?
’3. It is not necessary to produce backups of Nintendo games.’
Mask ROM is very persistent. I have a lot of Nintendo games. None of the roms (the chips) has shown any malfunctions so far. Nintendo cartridges are long-lived. To a lesser extend this is also true for the consoles. I do not have any Nintendo equipment, that failed electronically due to its age. This is so awesome! Even the save battery (wear part!) in Zelda II, the stamp on the battery says 1989, is fully operational.
The control sticks in N64 controllers wear easily and I read about bad capacitors in the N64 power supply (mine are still working tough, so no need to solder yet). The 72 pin connectors in my NES consoles are a little worn-out, and the mechanic for holding down the cartridge is not perfect anymore, but everything works.
So they are in fact right. Right? It is completely unnecessary to make copies. Wrong. Incredibly wrong! Eventually the consoles will fail. It’s a matter of time.
And guess what: The TV I had in the 90s is already broken. Oh, it broke long ago. Repairing was impossible: No parts available. And the next TV is also busted for the same reason. I looked at the TVs not long ago in an electronic store. Some do not have any analog input connectors anymore. So in a few years, when my current TV gives up the ghost, I will have to get an analog/digital converter to get HDMI output for the old consoles. If these converters still exist then. And if there is a model without much delay so games are playable. It may be possible to service/repair and keep the consoles usable for some more time. But it gets more and more complicated. As much as I love the old machines, at some point using an emulator is just the easiest way. Not everybody wants to invest much time (and money) in old equipment. I try my best, but there is only so much I am able to do.
Conclusion: The text in the manual is complete nonsense.
But this is not the end. No. Nintendo is telling us more rubbish. Not in this old instruction manual. On their current German website.
