Headlines - Nintendo sue suppliers of R4DS chip

[HEXUS]

Clampdown continues on the R4DS piracy chip as Nintendo and dozens of software companies join forces to sue offenders.

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[Steven.Michael]

creating a monoply, which is belived to be illegal

[PenguinJim]

I heard this suit was actually boosting R4 sales.

I have an R4, and as much as I love it (Monkey Island 2!), I'd have to recommend one of the similar devices which includes support for SDHC cards, so you're not capped at 2GB.

[Funkstar]

I have bought and payed for more DS games because of my TopToy cart than I would have without it.

Got fed up taking all my games with me while traveling so there wasn't as much insentive to buy more. Worms and Rainbow Islands ftw!

[Triplea4UK]

DS sales are massive and I think one of the reasons is because of devices like this.

I hope Nintendo loses but I can't see it happening.

[kalniel]

creating a monoply, which is belived to be illegal

A monopoly for what? There are lots of developers of DS games. There are lots of shops selling DS games.

DS sales are massive and I think one of the reasons is because of devices like this.

I doubt it very much - these kind of things are usually used by a very small minority. The majority of DS sales will be to children and families.

[Steven W]

It seems to me that all this publicity for the R4 chip is simply bringing it to the attention of those who didn't know about it.

[Whiternoise]

Oops. Big mistake there i think, Ninty. They would do better to go after newer companies, the R4 is - in the piracy world - out of date. It's limited to SD, whereas newer versions support SDHc and it's general not very full featured. It's also the one everyone ALREADY HAS. People are much more likely to buy newer variants from different people..

Still they can try to get their money from it. It's going to be difficult for them to win though, since the R4 doesn't really do anything illegal in itself.

[chrism]

DS sales are massive and I think one of the reasons is because of devices like this.

I hope Nintendo loses but I can't see it happening.

Even if DS sales were massive because of this, all it's doing is hurting the software manufacturers.

[Agent]

ELSPA say that the R4 chip has devastating consequences on the gaming industry.

John Hillier, Manager of ELSPA's Intellectual Property Crime Unit recently told that Sunday Post that the offence for selling these chips could lead to up to two years in jail or an unlimited fine.

Hang on, wasn't the R4 ruled legal in the UK not too long back?
If so, where does this 2 years malarky come from?

[Agent]

http://gaming.hexus.net/content/item.php?item=13826

Even if this was a mod-chip, this recent ruling seems to indicate its not illegal.

ELSPA really annoy me with statements they don't backup and figures which seem to come out of no where.

[Saracen]

creating a monoply, which is belived to be illegal

Neither having a monopoly, or creating one, is illegal either in the UK or, for that matter, the US. How you created a monopoly might be illegal, though using IP laws to sue companies breaching your IP would not be.

The illegality in monopolies, certainly in the UK (under the Competition Commission) or the US (FTC) would nearly always be in what you did with a monopoly market dominance, and if you then use that dominance to unfairly hamper or reduce competition, then you're getting into illegal territory. It's also worth remembering that what a lawyer or competition watchdog means my monopoly, and what an economist means aren't quite the same.