It was reported the other day that a High Court ruling that devices that allowed owners to alledgy play pirated software on there Nintendo DS systems are now illegal to import, advertise and sell in the UK.
An example of these devices would be the R4 range of cards. These cards functioned by making the system believe that there was a legitimate game cartridge present when in fact the software was being loaded from external sd storage.
Nintendo said it was “pleased that the court was not persuaded by the defendant’s arguments, claiming that game copiers are lawful, as they allow for the play of ‘homebrew’ applications”.
“The court affirmed that game copiers first circumvent Nintendo’s security systems before any non-infringing application can be played on Nintendo’s handheld products,” it said in a statement. (Link)
Now, having seen these cards in operation there seems to be a problem with the above statement. The cards themselves do not copy the software they only allow the use of the said copied software. Is this an example of Nintendo spreading FUD?
Also there people seem to be getting confused with the implications for homebrew development on DS. The ruling bans the “import, advertise and sell in the UK” of the cards. There is no mention of it being illegal to use one that was legally acquired before this ruling so develop away.
I do not think Nintendo has won a great victory, perhaps a hollow one. All that will happen will these cards will be pushed underground and still sold. Just keep an eye out at any car boot sales……