Legal Question in Intellectual Property in Utah

Re: downloading game roms from companies that no longer exist

I think there is a risk of a copyright violation. Just because a business dissolves does not dissolve the copyright in the game program. It could have been assigned to some other unrelated entity. Of course this assumes that they took steps to properly protect their copyright in the first place (i.e., you can't sue anyone for infringement unless the copyright is registered). You may be right that there is no one around to enforce the copyright, but just be aware that there is the risk that it may be someone other than the original owner.

Re: downloading game roms from companies that no longer exist

The owner of a copyright or patent has to be willng to defend thier rights. Failure to defend often results in abandonment and loss of the copyright or patent. If the company is out of business and IF the copyright is abandoned you may use the games. More likely than not some entity still owns the copyright or patent, and may or may not be active in protecting its rights. Even if you violate the copyrightor patent by your use of the game, as long as you do not resell the game it is very unlikely that you would be prosecuted.

Re: downloading game roms from companies that no longer exist

Downloading the games through a hacker/cracker site is a copyright infringement. If the copyright is registered, and it probably was, the copyright may have been assigned either before or upon dissolution. There is an opportunity there for someone to buy up the copyright and sell licenses to users like you. More likely is that there is no one left who cares enough to do anything legally. The Morpheus/Grokster/KaZaA abilities to transfer copyrighted material is so huge that the major copyright owners have their eyes focused on that problem at the moment. Players of defunct video games probably are below the radar level, but be warned that what you said you are doing is probably illegal and thus not without risk.