Editing MAME (section)

== Legal status ==

Owning and distributing MAME itself is legal in most countries, as it is merely an emulator. Companies such as [[Sony Computer Entertainment|Sony]] have attempted in court to prevent other software such as [[Virtual Game Station]], a [[Sony PlayStation]] emulator from being sold, but they have been ultimately unsuccessful.<ref>{{Cite magazine|url=https://www.wired.com/2000/02/court-upholds-playstation-rival/|title=Court Upholds PlayStation Rival|last=Glasner|first=Joanna|date=2000-02-10|magazine=[[Wired (magazine)|Wired]]|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20010618100548/https://www.wired.com/news/business/0,1367,34281,00.html|archive-date=2001-06-18|url-status=dead|access-date=2006-09-26}}</ref> MAME itself has thus far not been the subject of any court cases.

Most games are still covered by copyright. Downloading or distributing copyrighted ROMs without permission from copyright holders is almost always a violation of copyright laws. However, some countries (including the US)<ref>{{cite web|title=17 U.S. Code § 117 (a)|url=http://www.copyright.gov/title17/92chap1.html#117|publisher=U.S. Copyright Office|access-date=8 February 2014}}</ref> allow the owner of a board to transfer data contained in its ROM chips to a personal computer or other device they own. Some copyright holders have explored making ROMs available to the public through licensing. For example, in 2003 [[Atari]] made MAME-compatible ROMs for 27 of its arcade games available on the Internet site ''Star ROMs''. However, by 2006 the ROMs were no longer being sold there. At one point, various [[Capcom]] games were sold with the HotRod arcade joystick manufactured by [[Hanaho]], but this arrangement was discontinued as well. Other copyright holders have released games which are no longer commercially viable free of charge to the public under licenses that prohibit commercial use of the games. Many of these games may be downloaded legally from the official MAME web site.<ref>{{cite web|title=MAME ROMs for Free Download|url=http://mamedev.org/roms/|access-date=2013-07-03}}</ref> The Spanish arcade game developer [[Gaelco]] has also released ''[[World Rally (1993 video game)|World Rally]]'' for non-commercial use on their website.<ref>{{cite web|title=Gaelco Games at Home!|url=http://www.gaelco.com/english/pages/hablando/frhablan.htm|access-date=2013-07-03|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130518040356/http://www.gaelco.com/english/pages/hablando/frhablan.htm|archive-date=18 May 2013}}</ref>

The MAME community has distanced itself from other groups redistributing ROMs via the Internet or physical media, claiming they are blatantly infringing copyright and harm the project by potentially bringing it into disrepute.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.mamedev.org/devwiki/index.php?title=FAQ:ROMs|title=FAQ: Roms|publisher=MAME development site|access-date=28 December 2013}}</ref> Despite this, illegal distributions of ROMs are widespread on the Internet, and many "Full Sets" also exist which contains a full collection of a specific version's ROMs.<ref>{{cite magazine|date=4 September 2007|title=Make The Most of It|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=IoPZuA84ktMC|magazine=[[PC Magazine]]|volume=26|issue=17|page=61|access-date=28 December 2013}}</ref><ref>{{cite magazine|date=April 2007|title=Game On|url=https://archive.org/stream/PopularScienceApril2007#page/n81/mode/1up|magazine=[[Popular Science (magazine)|Popular Science]]|volume=270|issue=4|page=78|access-date=28 December 2013}}</ref> In addition, many bootleg game systems, such as arcade multi carts, often use versions of MAME to run their games.{{Citation needed|date=July 2019}}