Petition To:

The United States Copyright Office
The Chair of the Senate Committee on the Judiciary
The Chair of the House Committee on the Judiciary
The Federal Trade Commission (FTC)

We, the undersigned citizens, consumers, and preservationists, believe in the importance of copyright law and the right of creators to be protected from piracy. We also believe in a fundamental consumer right that is currently under threat: the right to own, back up, and preserve the software and games we legally purchase.

A legal loophole is being exploited by hardware manufacturers to take this right away from us, threatening to erase decades of digital history. We are calling on you to close this loophole.

The Problem: A Legal Right is Being Made Impossible

For decades, the law has been clear:

Emulation technology is legal. The process of reverse-engineering hardware to create compatible software has been affirmed by U.S. courts.
Making personal backups is legal. The principle of Fair Use allows consumers to make archival copies of software they own.
This technology is essential. As physical game cartridges degrade, servers are shut down, and hardware inevitably fails, emulation is often the only way to preserve video games for future generations. It is our digital library and museum.

However, companies are now using the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA) not as a shield against piracy, but as a sword against consumer rights. They are placing copyrighted "keys" (such as Nintendo's prod.keys) inside their hardware, protected by a digital lock (a TPM). The DMCA makes it illegal to bypass this lock for any reason.

This creates a legal trap: you have the right to back up your own game, but the only way to do so is to perform an action that is deemed illegal under the DMCA. A legal right has been made impossible to exercise.

This is Not About Piracy; It is About Control and Preservation

This strategy is not truly about stopping piracy, which continues regardless unfortunately without any proper means of combating with game developers themselves. It is about enforcing a monopoly and destroying ownership. By making emulation legally impossible, companies can:

Kill Fair Use: They can prevent you from using the property you bought in any way they don't explicitly approve.

Destroy Competition: They can ensure their software only runs on their hardware, locking consumers into their ecosystem.

Erase History: They can let their own cultural legacy vanish forever once they decide it's no longer profitable to sell. They are choosing to burn down the library to protect their short-term profits.

If this precedent stands, it will not stop at video games. This could apply to movies, music, and any form of digital media, leading to a future where you own nothing and are merely licensing everything at the whim of a corporation.

The Solution: A Simple Amendment to the Law

We are not asking for a repeal of copyright law. We are asking for a crucial clarification.

We, the undersigned, formally petition the U.S. Congress and the Copyright Office to amend Section 1201 of the DMCA. We request the creation of clear, unambiguous exemptions that protect the right of consumers to circumvent Technological Protection Measures (TPMs) for non-infringing purposes, including:

Archival Preservation: The right to back up legally owned software for personal use and historical preservation.

Interoperability: The right to reverse-engineer hardware to create compatible software (emulators) to run legally owned games.

This change would preserve the original intent of the DMCA—to stop piracy—while ending its misuse as an anti-consumer, anti-competitive, and anti-preservation tool.

Please, stand up for our rights as consumers and for the preservation of our shared digital culture. Do not allow our history to be locked away and destroyed.

Sign this petition to demand action and stop the killing of game preservation.