Copyright - A Grey Area?

[Asylum Seeker]

Hmmm - I'm really not sure about this one so wanted to come to you guys for advice on it.

I was interested in buying some games (mainly INTV and Coleco) from a chap who has an ebay store but he has refused and here is the reason why....

He says that distributing them outside the US would violate copyright law and he says that he does not want to be caught.

Correct me if I'm wrong but this would in fact bring the whole import market to it's knees and I wasn't even sure if copyright law would apply to older systems such as the INTV.

Is anyone clear on this? Or is this guy taking it to extremes?

[Vroomfunkel]

Sounds like a load of crap to me. Either he is paranoid, or else he just can't be bothered with the hassle of delivering overseas, but doesn't want to admit it. As much as games (and film) companies would *like* it to be illegal to sell games across their self-defined region borders, there is no actual law that forbids it.

Vroomfunkel

[petewhitley]

I encountered the same problem while living in Japan, and from Amazon.com no less! They won't ship games overseas, and their automated response to an order gives the same reply (copyrights, blah blah....). I never bothered to find out exactly what the law states however, and just had family send the games I wanted.

[Griking]

While i'm not an importer I was always under the impression that certain games were only allowed to be used in certain countries. In fact, there are messages saying this on some arcade games. I think it's because the developer of the game has separate agreements with distributers in different countries. Sounds legit to me.

[rolenta]

While i'm not an importer I was always under the impression that certain games were only allowed to be used in certain countries. In fact, there are messages saying this on some arcade games. I think it's because the developer of the game has separate agreements with distributers in different countries. Sounds legit to me.

You're right , Coleco and INTV probably had contracts with different distributors in each country back then. But to refuse to send 20 year old games overseas and cite copyright infringments in purely ludicrous.

[Sylentwulf]

Yes, TECHNICALLY you can't even legally USE the games outside of U.S. It says on everything "For use and sale only in the U.S. and Canada" Or something on every cart and CD ever mdae. But come on, even MODERN games are sold overseas, thousands by the minute, I'm sure. Classic games should be FINE. Need an ebay store that WILL send overseas for a cheap shipping price? http://www.stores.ebay.com/id=3614179

[maxlords]

Yeah...there are archaic laws in place that forbid exporting games, but they're never enforced at all anymore. They've just never been revoked. He's just too lazy to ship to you.

[Michael Thomasson]

Try http://www.Good DealGames.com
Reliably ships internationally with tons of classic games.