As "it is probably not illegal", people always say "use the ROM of games you physically own" when talking about emulators, so I have imagine it would be simply legal.
I think that’s largely meant as some combination of a joke and an indemnification of the person saying it. I think it’s common knowledge that everyone who does this is using a file they downloaded from a site they found through Google.
> people always say "use the ROM of games you physically own”
People also say “No copyright infringement intended” while uploading full movies to YouTube. People, especially when it comes to matters of copyright, typically have very poor understandings of law...
So what would be the correct understanding of the law in this case? That using an emulator is illegal because you cannot own a copy of the games you own?
It varies based on country and jurisdiction, but from an American / European perspective - some parts of the emulation scene are “definitely not legal” (eg, distributing copyrighted ROMs), and most parts of the scene are “It is complicated. Well-informed people have different predictions, but it hasn’t been tested in court, so we don’t know for sure”.
Moon Channel (an actual lawyer) has a fairly clear and concise summary with particular relation to the Dolphin emulator’s attempt to get itself on Steam: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wROQUZDCIMI
