Copyright infringement (or copyright violation) is the unauthorized use of material that is covered by copyright law, in a manner that violates one of the copyright owner’s exclusive rights, such as the right to reproduce or perform the copyrighted work, or to make derivative works.

(For electronic and audio-visual media, unauthorized reproduction and distribution is occasionally referred to as piracy.)

Look it up yourself for examples @ 17 U.S.C. § 106.

It’s important to remember lawsuit is somewhat independent of law – that is, you can sue for anything you want, a copyright violation does not need to occur for a lawsuit to take place.

It is a common misconception that as long as you don’t get any money than it is not copyright infringement, and that thinking is actually wrong. It is harder to prove damages when/if it goes to court, but using copyrighted material even without financial gain is still illegal (it can potentially ‘dilute’ the brand).

If Nintendo finds out about this they have the right to shut it down and prevent it from being released.

I wish fan-groups like this really could “go legit” with these games, but it’s up to Nintendo, Squaresoft, or whoever owns the property. I remember one Chrono Trigger re-make project was creating a 3D ps2/gamecube demo of their favorite parts of the game, but were shut down before releasing it – I always imagined how great it would have been if instead of sending a C&D, Square rewarded their talent and dedication with a contract – the team would cost less then traditional development studios and output a product fueled by passion – made for fans by fans.

I will defintaly play this!