Interesting email.. NESREPRODUCTIONS.

[leonk]

I was away for the long weekend (Thanksgiving day here in Canada) and my service provider forwarded me the following e-mail that they got:



To Whom it May Concern:

The Following URL is hosted on your site,
http://www.nesreproductions.com is being used to sell illegal copyrighted
materials not owned by this person, but owned by NOA (Nintendo of America).
This is infringing on the intellectual property of NOA and is making a profit
off of NOA and the companys hired out by NOA to create these games. He is
download illegal roms (games) off of the internet, putting them onto the cart
himself, and then reselling someone else's work. This should end.

Sincerly,

Philip Acree
NOA


My service provider is nice enough to work with me on this. They feel I'm not doing anything wrong at this time. So? Does this look legit or do we have a person trying to impersenate Nintendo? Also, how would Nintendo find out about my site? I only advertise on 2 sites! :eek 2:


Sounds fishy..

[TRM]

I do not know whether the email is legit. However, there is something interesting here.

First your email account gets shut down, then you receive this email. Personally, I think that someone (we can all have our own speculations) is out to get your site...the reasons, we all can speculate on that as well.

Personally, since you are doing a favor to us (nes gamers), I really don't like to see people harassing you like this. Quite frankly, your prices are very reasonable, your work looks good, and you allow us gamers to play unreleased games on an actual NES. I hate playing games on emulation, so your service will prove to be very useful to me, once I get more money (october is a bad month for me, several people I have to buy birthday gifts for)

Anyway, that being said, it is obvious that the people who are against your service would be the NES collectors. Whether the email is legit or not, who knows. One of the people from this board could have easily pointed NOA toward your site.

[anagrama]

That email looks extremely fishy to me - pleanty of warning signs:

- I'd imagine that any reference to their own company would be Nintendo of America Ltd, or similar.

- spelling/grammar errors: "companys" rather than 'companies'; "He is download illegal roms"; "making a profit off of"; "off of the internet"; "sincerly" instead of "sincerely" etc.

- "This should end." - Surely Nintendo have the clout to threaten a sterner punishment, no?

- "illegal roms (games)" - that just doesn't sound like something an official complaint would say.

- lack of contact info - surely a Nintendo representative would give a return email address or phone number to enable the ISP to check that's it's not just some internet tosser with too much time on his hands, no?


I'm 100% convinced that this is a third-party try to sabotage your service.

[TheRedEye]

Nintendo goes through another company. Back when they targeted my site, I got a letter from some hired dipshits complaining of the illegal use of Nintendo copyrights, namely Mario and Donkey Kong. Also, Nintendo of America wouldn't sign their letters as being from "NOA."

EDIT: Also, that email was written by either an idiot or someone whose primary language is not English.

Also also, Nintendo of America's legal department is too busy staring at their office walls and hanging out at the water cooler to be bothered by such petty crap, you'll never be targeted.

By the by, your service provider is not legally allowed to do a damned thing to your site until the actual copyright holder(s) both contact and prove who they are. No one can shut your site down but Nintendo themselves, so if your isp or webhost gives you shit, find another one, because they're acting outside of the law.

And do us a favor, don't you dare mention Jason Wilson.

[leonk]

No..

it's not Jason Wilson. I want to publically appologize for pointing my finger too quickly last time. Jason has other things to worry about than reproductions.

To tell you the truth.. these days, I too have more important things to worry about than reproductions. I always knew that I wouldn't be the first (nor the last) to offer such a service.

It's just a shame that there are losers out there that don't have a single brain cell to come up with their own original idea. I guess that's what sets people apart.

[Jred]

I'm assuming someone else is selling nes repro carts now? Not that I care one way or the other, but I get about an email a week from different people asking to use the labels for this same sort of stuff.. So I'm sure we'll see even more people selling them as time goes on. As for originality, they aren't trying to copy you... People have been making game repros for a long time, it's just that the nes scene hasn't had anyone selling them so publicly until now. No need to get so worked up about others doing it... Once people see that it is accepted more and more will keep showing up to try. Look at the atari scene :o Oh, and as for the email... I'd vote fake as well. Way too many grammer errors, and just not written in that lovely form document kind of way that most companies send their threats in.

[leonk]

I don't want to turn this into a spitting match..

but when I said copying, I did not mean copying the idea. I mean stealing the actual work. When I posted your labels on my site, I gave you full credit, including a link to your site.

Others in this community literaly downloaded JPEG images of my labels off my site, and posted it on theirs claiming themselves to be the originating artwork creators. (when in fact it was me who spent hours creating them in photoshop!)

I never claimed to be the creator of any of the ROM images placed on the carts I produce. That's where the diffrerence lays.

[Jred]

Eh I don't keep up really.. I just check to make sure my labels don't end up on Ebay/etc and leave it at that. Basically I just make the labels I want, so that when I get motivated enough to buy an eprom burner I can go ahead and make all the carts for myself. If others use them, and give me credit, and don't try and sell them as something they aren't<--the big one, I have no problem.

[leorange]

http://www.assemblergames.com/phpbb2/viewtopic.php?t=2280&postdays=0&postorder=asc&start=0

[TRM]

The topic or post you requested doesnt exist.

[Jred]

Register, sign in and check "log me on automaticly" then close that window and reclick his link.. Pain in the ass, but gets you to the post.

[leorange]

oops, forgot that you had to register before you could read there. sorry.

the post subject is "Someone report this guy...(to Nintendo)" and the message is a link to the nesreproductions site. and things kinda take off from there...

[TRM]

I'll tell you one thing, "an avid NES collector and gamer since 1999" sure impresses the hell out of me. :prayer:
:smt043 :smt043 :smt043 :smt043 :smt043
~Krelian
Sure reflects the DP crowd.

:angry:

[anagrama]

What a bunch of whining pricks. "It will devalue our collections, lets all rush and report him to Nintendo" LOL
Think you've found your culprit, leonk.

Shame, 'cos Assembler is usually pretty good.

[AlanD]

My favorite part is they whine about how LeonK should not be profiting off the sale of the carts (which he may - barely) They then gripe that it will devalue the proto which they have no legal right to own and makes them look hypocritical since there they are worrying about the profit from sale of stolen intellectual properties. I also find it funny that almost none of them mind emulation at all or gripe about the people selling rom collections on ebay which amounts to the same thing they accuse Leon of doing.


PS - Leon: If you decide to quit selling them (and I hope you don't unless you decide to forgo the hassle) can you let me know so I can mirror your site for my own reference? I would like to have a copy when I build my own carts.

[leonk]

I don't like the way things are going..

#1 Everyone thinks I'm making a killing doing this. Well folks, let me be the first to tell you that there is no market for NES reproductions. Sales are much better in the ROM department (by looking at eBay.. I don't do this stuff) than reproductions.

#2 It's becoming a pain in the rear to find donor carts! I'm afraid the NES is going the way of the Atari and intelli here in Toronto.

So for the next little while, a toned down version of my site is up. When things clear up (talk the wife.. beg her to continue with my hobby.. I enjoy making the carts more than the few bucks I make) I'll restore the original site.

As always, if you want to order/talk about carts.. e-mail me. ;)

[squirrelnut]

nevermind....

[gleavepaul]

As a member of both sites it pisses me off the flame war and name callings. I know some one sent that email as a spoof and as far as im concerned should be barred from both sites. There is no need for any flame wars- ever!

As for my 2 cents I dont like repros but if folk want them thats up to them as long as there maked as repros. Yeh its abit stupid people who collect dev stuff then have ago at folk doing repros - Both are tectnically breaking the law!!

But hey we all share a common intrest so lets just let it slide.


Group hug!!!! :D

[gleavepaul]

What a bunch of whining pricks. "It will devalue our collections, lets all rush and report him to Nintendo" LOL
Think you've found your culprit, leonk.

Shame, 'cos Assembler is usually pretty good.

Aye one prick can spoil it for everyone (note there are pricks every where even on this site)

[anagrama]

Coming soon: Board Wars - DP versus Atari Age, Assembler, NeoGeo.com and anyone else who fancies a go ;)

Just kidding, you're quite right in saying it's all a bunch of nonsense, though I couldn't help pointing out the hipocrasy at Assembler - this is the same board that helped organise the Propeller Arena debacle after all :roll:
We're all here because of a love of the games and should be able to keep it at that.

[gleavepaul]

not long ago it was neogeo having ago at Assembler and Atari-age here

Frankly it pisses me off









mind you a intersite footy match? im up for that

[anagrama]

mind you a intersite footy match? im up for that

Nah, an inter-board Pong tournament is what we need ;)

[gleavepaul]

lol an olimpics (sp)

all on games mind :D

[Funky Charms]

mind you a intersite footy match? im up for that

Nah, an inter-board Pong tournament is what we need ;)


Someone needs to make pong work with an emulator with netplay!

[anagrama]

And so it escalates... : http://www.assemblergames.com/phpbb2/viewtopic.php?p=29096#29096
:roll:

Here's your "NoA representative", leonk. Looks like he's a barely literate homophobic 12 year-old. Ho hum.

[gleavepaul]

meh

i did see that wasnt going to comment on it

[leonk]

I'm just getting tired of the childish behaviour around the web..

these morons don't get it. If I can visit web sites that teach me how to hack the XBOX, satellite TV and build a bomb, what can NOA do to shut me down???

I can easily move the site to Russia, Cuba or any other offshore hosting server where all the others are for the same $$$.

The funnies thing is how they rip apart reproductions, yet have an entire forum for collection pictures. Yeah buddy.. love all those 100% legal dev kits, dev boards and proto boards.
x_x

[gleavepaul]

what can NOA do to shut me down???
x_x

I think if they wanted to thay could however your "smallfry"

[TRM]

digitalgaypress.com? :roll:

[punkoffgirl]

It's always nice to know that members of this forum are using their membership to abuse other members via other forums.

[LeGIt]

-Removed

[gleavepaul]

Has anyone seen a nda?

[leonk]

:roll:

One can always contact this person for all their eprom needs:

http://www.hobbyroms.com/prices.html

for 15$ you too can have any of the proto images burned (10$ for CHR chip, 10$ for PRG chip - 5$ for volume discount). All you'll have to do then is:

- find a donor (5-15$)
- remove the masked roms (free if you got soldering iron + pump)
- solder the EPROMs (free if you got the iron + solder + wire)
- remove the label (free if you got goo gone)
- print new label (sticky label + ink..)
- stick it on

:D

Hmmm... 35-40$ sure sounds like a lot of profit to me! LOL

[DreamTR]

My favorite is when I get random emails asking me to kindly dump my ROM so they can play the game, then I ask for them to contribute some money towards how much I paid for the cart if they wanted it so bad because it will devalue my game more if a ROM is available for download, and they don't want to pay! LOL It is not illegal to own all of these items. And NDAs are usually dealt with by developers, and on rare occasions, press. However the majority of my NES protos were obtained from magazines. Since I am a private collector, I don't see the point of why anyone would care if someone has old games like this in their personal collection (especially on games 15+ years old) as long as they are not going crazy on the web selling them and distributing them.

[rbudrick]

SOME protos may be illegal to own, that is, if they were stolen or supposed to be given back. Others were legitimately given to people, companies, magazines, etc. In those cases, it is 100% legal to own, since they belonged to their owner, and not the company they were given from. One would be hard pressed to figure out which protos are which (even those with stickers on them saying they must be returned to their respective companies...maybe they actually told the owner, "eh, keep it.").

Some protos are a grey area, some are not.

-Rob

[eightbitonline]

for the record, i have a recca cart from leonk. why do i have it? c'mon... it's recca, on an actual NES, with an NES controller. extra bonus- it has slow-down, just like an NES game with all those sprites should. running the ROM on an emulator doesn't give the player all that slow-down and flicker. i don't consider it part of my "collection", and i would never re-sell it. for me it's purchase was mainly in curiousity over what the game would play like on an actual NES, and what the experience would be like.

the uber-anal be damned. you've played recca on ROM, you have recca on ROM saved on your PC's HD so don't bitch when i buy it on cart from a friend. i've got the ROM too, i'm not buying the ROM (i have it already) i'm purchasing the service of having it transferred to a different media using salvaged parts. what's so illegal about that. if leonk wants to stay out of trouble i can bring him the ROMs on 3 1/2" disk and not tell him what they are and simply use his equipment and labour. nothing illegal about that.

leonk's repro's- amazing work, amazing guy, it's a shame some people don't appreciate it.. or rather, would prefer that i don't appreciate it.

[gleavepaul]

you've played recca on ROM, you have recca on ROM saved on your PC's HD so don't bitch when i buy it on cart from a friend. i've got the ROM too, i'm not buying the ROM (i have it already) i'm purchasing the service of having it transferred to a different media using salvaged parts. what's so illegal about that.

Roms Are Breach of copyright laws thus you are breaking laws
O_O

[LeGIt]

-Removed

[TheRedEye]

The funnies thing is how they rip apart reproductions, yet have an entire forum for collection pictures. Yeah buddy.. love all those 100% legal dev kits, dev boards and proto boards.
x_x

They're in legal grey areas and not illegal.

Put it this way - it's illegal in the UK to sell cannabis but it's not illegal for personal use. It could work the same way that it's a breach of contract for the employee to sell the dev kits however the buyer was not subject to that agreement so their actions are merely frowned upon.

Also many of the board members aswell as myself are not morons - agreed you have issues with people over there but those people are responsible for their own actions - their own actions which should not be taken as the response of the community.

My personal reasoning for my ownership of such items is that I never read or signed the NDA so I'm not subject to it's terms and conditions. On the other hand the development companies are the only ones who are aware of what exactly the original NDA consists of yet they still let the hardware seep out - should the development companies have been keeping a better track of their equipment or perhaps there is something in the NDA which allows them to do as they please after xxx amount of time? Who knows - none of us have even seen the NDA's so any comments are pure speculation, however what is known is that development companies often allow employees to take such hardware home when the company no longer has a use for it. Surely the companies who signed the NDA would be aware whether or not employees could take this gear home? Wouldn't they also know things happen and said employees won't have the hardware in their posession forever?

Also don't let 1 persons actions dictate your observation of the entire community. I'm personally against piracy which would include your reproductions, however I only really report people who list the stuff on eBay for profit for newer systems. There was the whole Propellor Arena thing - I had no part in it yet I'm a member of the community. Any reference to the whole community being involved in the rip would blatantly be false as clearly I'm a member of their community yet I had nothing whatsoever to do with the rip. My anti-piracy stance includes dumping and trading of ROMs even for back up purposes (as 99% of people don't even own the originals - they should make their own backups for their own use) and I'm also against emulation. Technically emulation is interesting, however it only serves on the mainstream to fuel yet more piracy.

My opinion with prototype games is that only the owner of the original media should be allowed to play it. People may moan if it's a cool unreleased game and they want to play it. Wwhilst ownership of such prototype games is a grey area it's still blatantly clear that pirating prototypes is still illegal as it still infringes on copyrights.

Not sure what else to add? @_@

Rock on \^_^/

Helpful advice from the Fisher Price My L'il Lawyer Playset

[joshnickerson]

When it comes to unreleased games that are two decades old, I honestly don't see the harm. I mean, honestly, no one's making money off them just being stashed away either.

[eightbitonline]

Roms Are Breach of copyright laws thus you are breaking laws sorry, i should have clarified. i'm making the argument that i, as the customer, am the one breaking the law. i can argue that i am the one who provided the illegal ROM and i'm just paying for the service of having it transferred to a different media. i'm the one who should get in trouble, the person who made the cart is simply a technician.






you've played recca on ROM

Nope, Never.



you have recca on ROM saved on your PC's HD.

Hmm no I don't You won't find any ROM's on my PC nor will you ever. I don't even use ROM's of games I allready own let alone illegal copies for games I don't own.


so you've never played recca? honestly, i wish you would, 'cause it's a sick game. i'm not gonna claim to have never broken the law in my life. i've exceeded the speed limit, i've consumed alcohol while i was under the age of majority, and i've even recorded radio broadcasts, television broadcasts, and other audio and video signals to cassette and VHS tape for personal use. i've broken the law by recording a motion picture that was broadcast on network television, and then re-watching it at a later date :eek 2: recca's a really good game. if no one's screaming bloddy murder when i tape episodes of pokemon, i'm going to worry too much when i want to record recca to an acceptable format for personal use.

sorry. i'm an awful person i guess.

not trying to start a flame war here or anything. for posterity, you are in the right- it is illegal. i just don't think it's as huge a deal as it's commonly percieved to be.