> On Feb 8, 2017, at 1:56 PM, Chris Hanson <cmhan...@eschatologist.net> wrote: > > No. :) > > I presume you’re working on something related to CADR, LMI Lambda, and TI > Explorer emulation. Why not do so in the open?
Presume all you want, but I can’t confirm or deny anything I may or may not be working on. Lawyers are expensive and jail time is no fun. Absent a license from the rightsholder, emulators are illegal. Full stop, end of sentence. Go directly to jail, do not pass go, do not collect $200. It doesn’t matter if the company hasn’t existed since the late 80s - Someone somewhere owns the IP rights and as soon as they see interest in it they’re going to see potential dollar signs. That assumes it’s a normal business and not some patent troll operation that makes a living suing people. In any event, they’ll want compensation for the exploitation of their IP rights, and that means they’re coming after me. In the present legal environment, copyright is effectively immortal and “damages” are effectively unlimited. I can’t afford a judgement of even a few thousand dollars, let alone the hundreds of thousands / tens of millions that are commonplace today. There’s also federal law prohibiting unauthorized circumvention of technical copy protection measures, and lack of documentation can be construed as a protection measure. This opens the door to criminal charges. As nice as a publicly available emulator would be, I’m not interested in spending years in jail over it or forking over everything I earn for the rest of my life. Or spending the rest of my life dreading that certified letter that might be coming any day now from the law offices of such and such…
