[Q] Are Custom Roms Illegal, and why? - Sony Ericsson XPERIA X10 Mini

Hey people, how are you?
I was wondering out of nowhere: wait a minute, is this Rom legal?, replacing an Official Rom from the Provider for an Unofficial one that required Unlocking the Bootloader/Rooting the Phone/Flash the Rom is the same as saying that the Phone Protection was broken and it was an Hacking thing, and for making the Rom maybe there was some softwares that were illegally made or stolen from Official Android Version or stolen from Google or from someone.
So with this said, what do you think people? Having a Custom Rom on the Phone, is this Illegal?.
Please don't answer things like: you only void warranty.
Good answers i will give a 'Thanks' button press.
Cheers :good:

---

Crazy Seed said:
Hey people, how are you?
I was wondering out of nowhere: wait a minute, is this Rom legal?, replacing an Official Rom from the Provider for an Unofficial one that required Unlocking the Bootloader/Rooting the Phone/Flash the Rom is the same as saying that the Phone Protection was broken and it was an Hacking thing, and for making the Rom maybe there was some softwares that were illegally made or stolen from Official Android Version or stolen from Google or from someone.
So with this said, what do you think people? Having a Custom Rom on the Phone, is this Illegal?.
Please don't answer things like: you only void warranty.
Good answers i will give a 'Thanks' button press.
Cheers :good:
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Android is open source and royalty free software, so anyone is allowed to 'fork' it and do their own thing with it, so that is not illegal, and does not involve stealing or anything else. Amazon uses it on their Kindle Fire in a heavily modified form and MIUI (which just made custom ROMS at first) now also makes phones with their version installed as standard.
The rules on XDA are very strict when it comes to using other people's work without permission and if a ROM contains software which should be paid for or is used without permission that ROM will be removed.
The protection the manufacturers build into their phone is to insure their phones operate the same for everyone and so they can guarantee they can fix it when there is a problem with it.
Apple used to claim that 'jailbreaking' the Iphone was illegal according to their terms and conditions, but a Judge in the United States ruled that when a user buys a device, the user owns it and is allowed to do with that device whatever he wants, essentially meaning that jailbreaking (getting around the phone's factory installed protection mechanisms) is legal.
However, the manufacturer cannot be held responsible if a user does something with that device that the manufacturer did not intend.
That is why you void your warranty when you get around the inbuilt protections.
So, in short: Not illegal in any way, but it is at your own risk and for your own responsibility.

---

So does that mean that also The GB roms for this phone have legal apk's in it? Confused because of the apk's like: Latinime.apk 'keyboard from xperia x10 mini pro original, i don't know if that is considered stolen from original Firmware' and Gapps 'there are option to flash gapps, and somewhere it says that gapps are illegal on roms unless there is permission.
So breaking the phone protection is not considered a hacking thing right?.
There are country's where unlocking phones are obligatory on the store without charging more from it, so i guess that phones should always be unlocked everywhere, but if someone unlocks a phone not in a store is it legal? Well apparently it is.
That's why i asked also on another thread about the original android that came with the phone, because if the phone went to repair they could know that it was my fault since the firmware isn't the original that came with the phone, or am i wrong?.
So, in short: We're all on our own risk and responsibility, and nothing's illegal unless there was a paid apk on the rom.
Thanks for your answer here and on the other thread mate Cheers :good:

---

Crazy Seed said:
somewhere it says that gapps are illegal on roms unless there is permission.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
As far as I understand it, Gapps can't be distributed with a custom ROM, e.g. bundled with it. It's a licensing issue. That doesn't make using them illegal, you just need to flash them separately.
However, the whole thing about what's legal and what's not can sometimes take some bizarre turns that defy logic... For example, take the recent decision of the US Library of Congress to make a cellphone unlocking a violation of the DMCA, and therefore, illegal. First off, the DMCA itself is a bull$h!t, if you ask me, but that's just my opinion. But what the hell does the Library of Congress have to do with it? What kind of authority they have over the matter, anyway? Well, the real lawmakers passed the bill that actually allows the unlocking, so common sense prevails this time, but you never know...

---

kt-Froggy said:
As far as I understand it, Gapps can't be distributed with a custom ROM, e.g. bundled with it. It's a licensing issue. That doesn't make using them illegal, you just need to flash them separately.
However, the whole thing about what's legal and what's not can sometimes take some bizarre turns that defy logic... For example, take the recent decision of the US Library of Congress to make a cellphone unlocking a violation of the DMCA, and therefore, illegal. First off, the DMCA itself is a bull$h!t, if you ask me, but that's just my opinion. But what the hell does the Library of Congress have to do with it? What kind of authority they have over the matter, anyway? Well, the real lawmakers passed the bill that actually allows the unlocking, so common sense prevails this time, but you never know...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I think there were some roms with the gapps inside, but without them bundled it's all legal then .
Luckily i unlocked my phone on the store so i don't have problems with these stuff, i was more concerned about if the roms use Illegal software in it, gapps you tell me now that it isn't legal if we flash them separately, so i guess that what remains on my question is if the keyboard LatinIme.apk is legal since it seems to be like the original used on the Stock Android version that came with the phone, i don't know if there's any other software that i can ask if it's legal or not. In logic, Rooting and flashing would be illegal because it's like 'Hacking', but in the Law and stuff if it's legal then it's ok by me.
Thanks
Cheers :good:

---

Crazy Seed said:
I think there were some roms with the gapps inside, but without them bundled it's all legal then .
Luckily i unlocked my phone on the store so i don't have problems with these stuff, i was more concerned about if the roms use Illegal software in it, gapps you tell me now that it isn't legal if we flash them separately, so i guess that what remains on my question is if the keyboard LatinIme.apk is legal since it seems to be like the original used on the Stock Android version that came with the phone, i don't know if there's any other software that i can ask if it's legal or not. In logic, Rooting and flashing would be illegal because it's like 'Hacking', but in the Law and stuff if it's legal then it's ok by me.
Thanks
Cheers :good:
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I think the LatinIME is the google keyboard, the one that came with the phone was the suqashiinput.apk, and I don't think Sony is too concerned if you use the programs that came with the phone on that same phone.
Sony would be in it's right to take down any ROMS that infringe on it's copyrights, but they don't, they have even taken steps to make it easier to use custom roms on their phones, so I don't think you need to worry about that.

---

SmG67 said:
I think the LatinIME is the google keyboard, the one that came with the phone was the suqashiinput.apk, and I don't think Sony is too concerned if you use the programs that came with the phone on that same phone.
Sony would be in it's right to take down any ROMS that infringe on it's copyrights, but they don't, they have even taken steps to make it easier to use custom roms on their phones, so I don't think you need to worry about that.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Lol you're right i switched the name of the keyboards xD, but none of them is illegal apparently
So with all of this said, custom roms doesn't mean 'hacking' and therefore not illegal, right? I think my question is fully answered now then, thanks mate
Cheers :good:

---

let me jump in and share my thoughts. hacking has 2 categories (i think), developmental and the other one i call destructive (i dont need to explain the difference, do i?) like previously stated, any licensed and paid apk if bundled with the rom is illegal including the gapps. thats why gapps is flash seperately (see the bold thing is what makes the difference). i dont know about manufacturers allowing their default apks to be used and distributed by cookers but maybe they see its a good thing rather than being pestered by consumers about having an upgrade of the old phones. i have an htc and xperia and both offers bootloader unlocking feature/tutorials, which i think they know why we are unlocking it. they are aware and support it. maybe they are looking for apks that could help their brand soar. who knows, when you develop one and they buy them.
:laugh:

---

demoniacs said:
let me jump in and share my thoughts. hacking has 2 categories (i think), developmental and the other one i call destructive (i dont need to explain the difference, do i?) like previously stated, any licensed and paid apk if bundled with the rom is illegal including the gapps. thats why gapps is flash seperately (see the bold thing is what makes the difference). i dont know about manufacturers allowing their default apks to be used and distributed by cookers but maybe they see its a good thing rather than being pestered by consumers about having an upgrade of the old phones. i have an htc and xperia and both offers bootloader unlocking feature/tutorials, which i think they know why we are unlocking it. they are aware and support it. maybe they are looking for apks that could help their brand soar. who knows, when you develop one and they buy them.
:laugh:
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Be my guest then xD. As long as the Hacking type isn't the Bad One/Illegal One then that's fine xD.
I don't know about that one either, because it's true that the keyboard apk came with the phone, but that keyboard is being used in a 'Unofficial' Android Version not created by them but yes by someone else, i don't know if they allow it like that even if it is for the same phone.
Yes in reality they know everything we do, and everyone knows about hacking and cracking but No One does a damn thing about it xD.
I think Sony should buy Android 2.3 from this website and perfect it for our phone, but i don't see that happening xD, i would say Android 4+ but it's too much for this phone xD.
:laugh:

---

Crazy Seed said:
Be my guest then xD. As long as the Hacking type isn't the Bad One/Illegal One then that's fine xD.
I don't know about that one either, because it's true that the keyboard apk came with the phone, but that keyboard is being used in a 'Unofficial' Android Version not created by them but yes by someone else, i don't know if they allow it like that even if it is for the same phone.
Yes in reality they know everything we do, and everyone knows about hacking and cracking but No One does a damn thing about it xD.
I think Sony should buy Android 2.3 from this website and perfect it for our phone, but i don't see that happening xD, i would say Android 4+ but it's too much for this phone xD.
:laugh:
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
In the end, Sony would rather sell us a new phone, but they (or anyone else for that matter) don't make phones like ours anymore.
But I think, with the work Google has put into KitKat, it should run better on our phones then ICS or JellyBean, so it's kind of a shame we don't have developers capable of porting it anymore.
That said, I still think it's very cool we've got Jellybean ROMS that run ok, and I'm very grateful for all the effort that has gone into development in that respect, even if it's not as fast as Gingerbread ROMS or even the original firrmware.
Let's just finish by this: If it was all illegal, then XDA wouldn't exist anymore, it would have been litigated out of existence by any of the big phone-manufacturers or phone-operating-systems-producers.

---

SmG67 said:
In the end, Sony would rather sell us a new phone, but they (or anyone else for that matter) don't make phones like ours anymore.
But I think, with the work Google has put into KitKat, it should run better on our phones then ICS or JellyBean, so it's kind of a shame we don't have developers capable of porting it anymore.
That said, I still think it's very cool we've got Jellybean ROMS that run ok, and I'm very grateful for all the effort that has gone into development in that respect, even if it's not as fast as Gingerbread ROMS or even the original firrmware.
Let's just finish by this: If it was all illegal, then XDA wouldn't exist anymore, it would have been litigated out of existence by any of the big phone-manufacturers or phone-operating-systems-producers.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Or we could always buy Xperia Mini Pro 'difference is not very big beetween them', but it's a little expensive and the benefits are almost nothing since Xperia Mini Pro x10 has great quality in Music, Image, Video with the only letdown being the Android Version + CPU capacity.
Yes Kit Kat should run better on our phones, but it's also true that right now there's nobody capable of porting it to our phone :S.
Respect and Thanks for the efforts on the ICS Jelly Roms, and call me crazy but i think that if someone could fix some bugs from the ICS version then it could be perfect since almost everything is working, Jellybean is more difficult because of the Audio drivers for Sound quality making it almost impossible.
Yes they could finish this website if they had the rights to do so, apparently there's nothing wrong with custom roms so it's all ok, but it's also true that sometimes even if something is illegal people just close their eyes 'just like in piracy, everyone downloads songs movies etc and nobody does a damn thing about it because they know it's a fight they can't ever win'.
So with all said, everything is apparently legal and ok to go .

---

No, they're not illegal. Android is an open source community, as long as you conform with legal policies, you will be good to go!