Nintendo seize thousands of copying devices and Wii mod chips

[HEXUS]

Nintendo's appeal to the Hong Kong High Court for help in stopping the illegal activities of a global piracy of operation has proved to be a success, after Nintendo representatives seized more than 10,000 game copying devices and mod-chips.

Read more.

[Sinizter]

How can Nintendo or Nintendo representatives have legal power to seize anything ?

[RichieLee]

Lik Sang got sued by Nintendo? I thought they went bust after Sony went mad over them selling psps?

[dave87]

Lik Sang were sued in 2005, way before sony had a pop at them...

[Steven W]

How can Nintendo or Nintendo representatives have legal power to seize anything ?

I thought the same thing, but that's what they said. They must have their own army!

[Funkstar]

They must have their own army!

[usxhe190]

haha

[UltraMagnus]

hope mine wasn't in that lot >

[usxhe190]

Could a person making mod chips be the same as a DVD-RW manufacturer?

[Funkstar]

In what way?

[usxhe190]

i mean - is a modchip maker the same as a dvd-rw manufacturer? does a modchip = the only reason to use a modchip is to play pirated games?

i remember a lot time along, media companies used to sued tape manufacturer for piracy...

[Funkstar]

Depending on th modchip, there are a few uses for it.

• The ability to run copied material
• The ability to bypass region encoding
• The ability to run un-official code and hardware

The first is clearly against the law, the second i'm not sure where the law stands n that. I don't think there is anything against is, due to the number of region free DVD players available on the highstreet. Being able to run un-official code and hardware is against the console makers terms and conditions. So while not illegal to do this, they can take you to court for it.

However, the implication that mod chips are used to aid piracy is much higher than claiming that DVD-RWs, tapes, CD-Rs, etc are only used for piracy.

Although, try telling that to the Canadian government...

[Saracen]

....
However, the implication that mod chips are used to aid piracy is much higher than claiming that DVD-RWs, tapes, CD-Rs, etc are only used for piracy.

It's not just what chips may or may not be used for, it's what they are. I don't know about this case because I haven't looked at the detail, but in the past, there have certainly been mod chips which have taken manufacturer's own code (which is copyright protected), modified it and burnt it back to create the modchip. In that case, the modchips are infringing copies in themselves, regardless. of what use they're put to.

How can Nintendo or Nintendo representatives have legal power to seize anything ?

If a court order gives them that authority.

Copyright law varies quite a bit in detail around the world, but in terms of UK copyright law, most infringements are civil breaches of the law, not criminal. If it's a civil breach, then the remedies are generally limited to :-

- compensation for loss suffered
- injunction to prevent further infringements (and breaking THAT is criminal, and potentially serious)
- a seizure order for infringing copies.

It's that third one that opens the doors, as it were, to such searches and seizures. A broad analogy would be a search warrant issued to a UK TV licensing officer. Often, such a search will be conducted in the presence of police, but it'll be a civilian in the employ of TV licensing doing the search. How can they be empowered to enter, by force if necessary, to conduct a search? They are, after all, a civilian employee of a commercial company. The answer, of course, is that they have a search warrant from the court authorising it, and any police in attendance will be there to .... erm ... prevent a possible breach of the peace, but not to do the search.

The same logic applies, under UK law, to seizure orders. Statute gives the courts the authority to appoint authorised people to conduct seizures, and a person so appointed has the legal right to conduct the seizures authorised by that order, which may well be for "infringing copies". I rather imagine you'll find similar provisions in many other jurisdictions.

[Funkstar]

It's not just what chips may or may not be used for, it's what they are. I don't know about this case because I haven't looked at the detail, but in the past, there have certainly been mod chips which have taken manufacturer's own code (which is copyright protected), modified it and burnt it back to create the modchip. In that case, the modchips are infringing copies in themselves, regardless. of what use they're put to.

Thats a very good point, something I wasn't aware of to be honest

[Sinizter]

...TV licensing doing...

You just reminded me ... I am going to call one of their help lines and ask them exactly how much power one of their licensing "officers" have. Going to record it, so they dont BS me. Just need to remember to tell them that I am recording the conversation.

[UltraMagnus]

Depending on th modchip, there are a few uses for it.

• The ability to run copied material
• The ability to bypass region encoding
• The ability to run un-official code and hardware

The first is clearly against the law, the second i'm not sure where the law stands n that. I don't think there is anything against is, due to the number of region free DVD players available on the highstreet. Being able to run un-official code and hardware is against the console makers terms and conditions. So while not illegal to do this, they can take you to court for it.

However, the implication that mod chips are used to aid piracy is much higher than claiming that DVD-RWs, tapes, CD-Rs, etc are only used for piracy.

Although, try telling that to the Canadian government...

you forgot running backups... which is allowed under UK and US law