If he owns the games, it's not piracy to torrent copies of them from the internet, nor is it against the rules to suggest it. It's only against the rules to suggest downloading instead of buying the game, which is what piracy is.
Fair use only applies to media that is used to supply the software. The disc and the software are two seperate components. Fair use protects the user from media failure by allowing one backup of the original media to use in the event of primary media failure. Since the software he licensed originated from a disc, he is only allowed a copy of that disc or one identical to it. Downloads do not count. This is why software purchased from services like Steam are not protected by First Sale Doctrine. The software is considered independent of the media it is supplied on. Torrents are not considered a legal backup because regardless of if it was ripped from a disc or not, relative to the end user it originates on a server and thus is piracy. Remember, you own the disc but not the software on it...in other words, you only have control over the tangible goods, which means the dvd. You can duplicate the pits on a dvd, which is what your backing up. The actual software is merely a translation of those pits, and thus is considered intangible..and that is the part that constitutes piracy if you acquire it in a fashion that violates the license, which means any method that isn't officially provided by the owner of said copyright.
Copyright Law of the United States : Title 17 : Chapter 2
§ 202. Ownership of copyright as distinct from ownership of material object
Ownership of a copyright, or of any of the exclusive rights under a copyright, is distinct from ownership of any material object in which the work is embodied. Transfer of ownership of any material object, including the copy or phonorecord in which the work is first fixed, does not of itself convey any rights in the copyrighted work embodied in the object; nor, in the absence of an agreement, does transfer of ownership of a copyright or of any exclusive rights under a copyright convey property rights in any material object.
Copyright Law of the United States : Section 117
§ 117. Limitations on exclusive rights: Computer programs
(a) Making of Additional Copy or Adaptation by Owner of Copy. Notwithstanding the provisions of section 106, it is not an infringement for the owner of a copy of a computer program to make or authorize the making of another copy or adaptation of that computer program provided:
(d) Definitions. For purposes of this section
(1) the maintenance of a machine is the servicing of the machine in order to make it work in accordance with its original specifications and any changes to those specifications authorized for that machine; and
(2) the repair of a machine is the restoring of the machine to the state of working in accordance with its original specifications and any changes to those specifications authorized for that machine.