Downloading Retro Video Games For Free
The exemptions in religion on ethical and dietary violations are not based on basic needs of a person but on the presence of Iztarar ( when something becomes a matter of life and death or under compulsion ). Therefore, if something is a clear violation of someone else’s rights then violating those rights would not doubt be a sinful act. The question here arises whether or not this particular form of copyrights violation is actually a sin because of usurpation of someone’s rights. If a company has a clear policy in this regard then any form of copyrights violation would be a sin as a general principle . However, legal laws of a country override any company specific policies and every company abides by those laws if they want to operate in that country. It is also an implied understanding that if a company chooses to operate in the particular country, then they would abide by those laws as well even if they contradict the Company’s own policy in this regard. If this is the situation in any country where such copyrights violations are considered legal at an individual level ( subject to certain conditions ), then the matter downgrades from status of explicit prohibition. Secondly, matters of a company cannot be equated with examples of usurpation of human rights at an indicidual level, since they both have a different status legally i.e. company is a separate legal entity whose whole process from incorporation to its dissolution is governed by specific laws and all its rights and responsibilities are determined by those laws only. Therefore, if such conditions exist in any country then the matter belongs to mushtabih category i.e. which is not clearly Haram, and an individual has to decide for himself whether they still want to refrain from using this privilege or not. In all circumstances, the decision should be honest by the individual based on all the available information.
My opinion is to refer to @Irfan76 ‘s opinion on this here: Discussion 58108 If the seller claims it is legit, then you can buy it, there is no blame on you if it turns out to not be genuine later on.
Maybe not because the point of counterfeit products in the discussion was that you are buying them with the idea that they are legit but they may be fake. Issue with Venci Pocket Arcade is that it has 15000 illegal roms in it and they boast about it clearly, it is a stolen product here unless you own every console and game available on it. But Nintendo did not sue it so it is unusual, you may wanna ask what they think about it (through email). With hope that maybe there is a understanding going on between companies but I doubt it considering Nintendo’s track record of suing anything that comes under their radar.