Post #3471367

2026-06-29 14:51 UTC

Case law is specific to jurisdiction. I don’t know where you live, and I’ve not said where I live. The way buying and selling most digital copies of games is through buying and selling licences, though some software you do pay for the download itself rather than paying for a licence. That doesn’t require case law; that’s literally just what it is, like how if I sign a contract I don’t need case law to demonstrate that what I’ve signed is a contract, it just is. Case law adjudicates matters of law which are in dispute, not figuring out whether a spade is a spade.

Replies (1)

@prole@lemmy.blahaj.zone 2026-06-30 11:55

Yeah just because you say “this is not in dispute,” doesn’t make it true. The reason there appears to be no dispute is because video game companies haven’t brought a suit against anyone for this specific thing. Until then, it’s nebulous and completely up for debate. Video game manufacturers have lost several emulation suits in the past, and I would not be one bit surprised if that’s the reason why they never tried to go after this in courts. Bleem! successfully won their countersuit against Sony because of fair use. It doesn’t hurt that there is this precedent regarding VHS: en.wikipedia.org/…/Sony_Corp._of_America_v._Unive…. Until Nintendo or Sony actually tries to sue someone for doing it, then it’s up for dispute.

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