copyright germany online-piracy
Is it legal to rip ISOs/ROMs from physical game discs for use in a PC emulator?
<p>I live in Germany. I own a Wii Console and related hardware, as well as some games in the form of physical discs.</p>
<p>I would like to play those games (which I legally own on disk) on my PC using an emulator without downloading ROMs (game/disc images) from the internet (which is obviously illegal).</p>
<p>Is it possible to legally copy those discs to a PC for the purpose of playing the games in an emulator?</p>

<ol>
<li>In general, you can make private copies of works you legitimately own for non-commercial purposes, see limitation provision <a href="https://www.gesetze-im-internet.de/englisch_urhg/englisch_urhg.html#p0348" rel="nofollow noreferrer">§ 53 Ⅰ UrhG</a>.
A plain <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dd_(Unix)" rel="nofollow noreferrer"><code>dd(1)</code></a> is unobjectionable.
As soon as you need to circumvent an “effective technological measure” (e. g. a copy protection) though, <a href="https://www.gesetze-im-internet.de/englisch_urhg/englisch_urhg.html#p0723" rel="nofollow noreferrer">§ 95a UrhG</a>, it’s not OK anymore.</li>
<li>In your particular case:
The disc you intend to copy contains a game.
This is a <strong>computer program</strong>.
You will need <em>prior authorization</em> to make any copy thereof, <a href="https://www.gesetze-im-internet.de/englisch_urhg/englisch_urhg.html#p0541" rel="nofollow noreferrer">§ 69c № 1 UrhG</a>.
A back‑up copy is only permissible if its sole intent is <em>to be</em> a back‑up, <a href="https://www.gesetze-im-internet.de/englisch_urhg/englisch_urhg.html#p0547" rel="nofollow noreferrer">§ 69d Ⅱ UrhG</a>, say in the event the original optical disc itself becomes unreadable.
You actually intend to <em>use</em> the copy on your PC though, while the original disc is still operational.
This isn’t allowed.</li>
<li>Virtually all violations of IPR (intellectual property rights) are criminal (or administrative) offenses, <a href="https://www.gesetze-im-internet.de/englisch_urhg/englisch_urhg.html#p0842" rel="nofollow noreferrer">§§ 106 ff. UrhG</a>, yet like any crime, if nobody knows that <em>you</em> are committing it, you won’t experience no troubles.</li>
</ol>
