I was just wondering if this site is legal or not. I realize that the disclaimer says that this site is legal since who are "renting" a copy of the games. However, other users claim that this site is illegal regardless. This has made me concerned over the legality of this site. I do not want to be fined, sued, or arrested for using this site, and I am looking for a straight answer that confirms or denies my beliefs.
Also, just to clarify, I live in the U.S, so I am wondering if it is legal or not according to U.S. Laws.

Its 100% legal. There's nothing illegal about the site. The only real reason for having it illegal would be us to have the most current games in the RGR (IE: Xbox 360, PS3, or DS) which would lead to a law suit against David. Not us.

Meant to change one detail on this post, but accidentally deleted it. *derp*

rcarter2 : .....Wait what?? Every game I have played on vizzed got downloaded directly onto my computer and I can even take the files out of the RGR folder on my comp and play the roms on other emulators, off line , off vizzed...

Playing games on vizzed DOES download ROMs onto your computer.

Start -> All programs -> Vizzed Retro Game Room -> Open Plugin Data Folder -> Downloads

I go straight to this folder and I can clearly see every game I've played on vizzed and they are all ROMs located in this folder, downloaded right on my comp...

LegolasJJH : Playing them on the site is one thing. Having an emulator that you play offline away from Vizzed is entirely another thing. One of the loopholes that would keep me safe is that I can only play the ROMS on the site because I don't put anything on my computer to use them in any other way. The fact that you took it out to play it away from Vizzed is on you.

Regardless, the largest loophole used by the site is the fact that the content here is no longer under profit circulation, so you are not stealing money from the copyright holders. A case could be made that since a handful of the games here are now available for download on wii channel, but people are technically paying for the wii points, not directly paying for those games. Now, this loophole is usable as long as the copyright holders do not request that their content be taken off the site. As long as that doesn't happen, no real laws are being broken.

Yep. It's totally 100% illegal. No doubt about it.

What? Disclaimers telling how it actually is completely legal? Pffft, THOSE ARE JUST TRICKS PLAYED ON US BY WITCHES!

There is totally no sarcasm or mocking in this post whatsoever, Nya~.

rcarter2 : My point was simply that when you said playing games does not download any roms to your computer, that is 100% false. Playing games on vizzed does download the ROMs onto your computer.

I agree that no users on vizzed need to worry about legal issues, like you said, if anyone needs to worry about that it is david, But telling users that playing games on vizzed does not download ROMs onto your computer is a lie.

Sorry I don't mean to sound condescending, I just don't want anyone to get the wrong idea and think they are not downloading ROMs when, in fact, they are.

If using this site is illegal...Oh well I ain't giving it up yet.

LegolasJJH : I didn't take it as condescending. I was in a bit of a hurry with that first post and didn't explain the fine details well. I didn't mean they didn't download them onto your computer. It is how it is on your computer that is different. I actually thank you for pointing that clarification out.

It's not completely illegal to play games on this site that I physically own and I physically own a lot of the games on the site. The site has a budget, the budget various each month depending on the ad revenue and the donations. The budget goes toward server fees and the remaining goes toward either RGR Plugin updates, hiring/paying people to do various tasks for the site, and obtaining games.

It's totally legal... Even the owner of it is telling the same.

As said before, it would be illegal if it had the games of the actual consoles. 

Vizzed falls into a grey area as far as US law is concerned.
As LegolasJJH has stated the plugin does download roms to your PC.
This isn't legal, but it's the same sort of illegal as watching tv shows on youtube.

Also to clear up any misunderstandings, emulators themselves are also not illegal, they are perfectly legitimate pieces of software that exist to play homebrew games.
They just happen to also play roms of commercial games as well.
It's when you use the two together that is when you start going into the grey area.

I should also mention that using the plugin does in fact download the emulators to your pc, albeit in dynamic link library form (ie. not usable without Vizzed to tell it that it's an emulator) but as I stated previous, emulators are not illegal.

To sum things up. Is Vizzed legal? Yes and no. The site itself isn't but some of the content could be said to be.
Will you get in trouble with the law from using Vizzed? No.

Totally legal. All the consoles and games in the retro game room had their production discontinued ages ago and that earns them a one way ticket into public domain.

TomFulp21 :

This is false. Vizzed is in a grey area. Please do not lie or mis-inform our members. Everything in the RGR is under copyright. It is not public domain and will not be for quite a few more decades. The game industry is not old enough for any copyrights to have expired yet.

I kind of want to reply to every person in this thread to clear up any misconception, but Vizzed is 100% illegal, no ifs, ands or buts. The fact that David own physical copies makes no difference, and even if the Retro Game Room didn't download games directly to an unencrypted file on your computer (which it does), this site will still be unequivocally, and beyond a shadow of a doubt illegal. You can argue all you want, but the fact is that MAKING OR OWNING A COPY OF A GAME FOR ANY REASON, EVEN PERSONAL ARCHIVES IS AGAINST THE LAW.

Please do not confuse your right to loan out a physical cartridge (as in the case of rental shoppes) with the right to make a copy of a video game, because no matter what you argue, what you say, this is illegal. Don't believe me? Pick up any video game's manual, and read the very first, or in some cases, the very last page.

This software may not be copied, reproduced, or distributed in any manner or medium, in whole or in part, without prior written consent from Licensor. All persons copying, reproducing or distributing all or any portion of the Software in any manner or medium, will be willfully violating the copyright and trademark laws.

Davideo7 : Personally, I do not think that what you do here is wrong, but make no mistake about it, you are breaking the law every day that Vizzed operates, and your only defense if it comes down to legal action is knowing exactly what your rights and privileges are.

Lazlo Falconi :

Glad someone else said it.

Far be it for me to call something illegal, but...

Well

It's exactly what it says on the tin.

Oh I just re-read the first post and Gaminguru was wondering more specifically about his problems with the site. Technically, what you are doing is illegal, but having ROMs isn't what gets you in trouble, distributing them is.

The loopholes are very clever. Whoever thought of it must be a genius.

Not going to repeat the things others (mostly Falconi) have said so far, but rest assured they're right.
Downloading the ROMs is illegal, no matter how clever you do it, but really, if the police went after every single person who owned a downloaded ROM, a big chunk of the US population would be in jail by now.
So unless the police ever has reason to search through your PC (like child porn etc), you yourself are completely safe.

And that the big companies start to attack Vizzed itself is unlikely, unless Vizzed gets a serious boost in popularity, the government has its hands full with sites thepiratebay already, which they're not going to get rid of any time soon.