When it comes to modding your consoles, it all becomes a bit of a legal gray area, especially depending on which country you're in. However, when you not only modify your video game system, but also create a storefront, with the express purpose of selling devices that can boot custom firmware bundled with micro SD cards full of pirated ROMs of games, then you definitely push yourself into the side of illegality. That's why, in 2018, Nintendo went after a man who did exactly that, filing a lawsuit against one Sergio Mojarro Moreno, for selling Team-Xecuter devices, storage devices with illegal copies of Nintendo Switch titles, and hacked NES Classic systems, full of more pirated ROMs. The lawsuit was settled in the middle of last year, but only now has the court's injunction been publicly posted. The United States District Court of Southern California ruled that the defendants were to be dismissed without prejudice, meaning that should any of the involved defendants attempt to sell these items again, Nintendo will be able to re-open the case. They were also ordered to refrain from using or selling devices (SX Pro, Trinket M0) that circumvent Nintendo's security measures on their consoles, nor can they sell, rent, or offer pirated copies of Nintendo games. Furthermore, they may not provide or sell anything that uses Nintendo's trademarks to market their products.

Finally, at the time of the filed injunction which was December 30th, all involved parties were required to have disposed of any physical devices or modchips that could hack Nintendo hardware.

Defendant shall, within three (3) days of entry of this Stipulated Judgment and Permanent Injunction, provide written certification to Nintendo, representing that Defendant, including any of his agents, were not in possession of any circumvention devices, including but not limited to any software related to circumventing Nintendo systems, any software that extracts Nintendo video games directly from the original copy, any physical devices, such as SX Pro or Trinket M0 chip, that are used to circumvent Nintendo systems, any memory cards containing illegally downloaded copies of any Nintendo video games, any modded Nintendo devices, or unauthorized copies of Nintendo video games, including but not limited to Super Smash Bros. Ultimate before it was released for sale in the United States, at the date of entry of this Stipulated Judgment and Permanent Injunction, or, if Defendant, including any of his agents, were in possession of any circumvention devices, including but not limited to any software related to circumventing Nintendo systems, any software that extracts Nintendo video games directly from the original copy, any physical devices, such as SX Pro or Trinket M0 chip, that are used to circumvent Nintendo systems, any memory cards containing illegally downloaded copies of any Nintendo video games, any modded Nintendo devices, or unauthorized copies of Nintendo video games, including but not limited to Super Smash Bros. Ultimate before it was released for sale in the United States, that Defendant provide a list of those items in his or his agents’ possession and that they have been destroyed; 4. Judgment is hereby entered in favor of Nintendo on each and every claim for relief in Nintendo’s First Amended Complaint;

Source: Legal Court Document (obtained by TorrentFreak)

 

[Hayato213]

It's kinda the same thing IMO. The pokemon isn't legitimate just used your hacked switch to get the glitched pokemon and just trade them over to your offical switch for resale.

Keep in mind buisness is buisness but the concept is still the same when it comes to wares people are just going to make a profit...

The guy is kinda wrong for doing it but this is the same as someone who's selling drugs and etc he was too open about his services rather than being discreet I was talking to a seller that it's best to sell the system blank vs with games because sometimes police can entrapt you.

The guy was basically tipped off

Except Nintendo doesn't care if you if you are selling a genned pokemon, once you start selling backup of games then they have a problem with it, it is the intellectual property of these different companies. Trading for a genned pokemon doesn't prove any copyright violation, for example, if Nintendo wants they can buy the seller item and used it as proof in court, that is what Sony did suing someone selling a 5.05 PS4 with backup.

 

[smf]

I wonder if they can be called to court about any Trinket M0, or only Trinket M0s being used for hacking, because even though they are mostly used for CFW, they totally have other uses.

It's unlikely they would sell them, as there is so little margin there isn't much room for a small player. I think quite rightly the court would pay an interest if they were, in case they are selling them blank and then emailing saying "hey you can totally hack the switch with this".

While he did sell ROMs, which is dumb. Nintendo successfully sued loads of flash cart sellers in europe, even though they argued that the flash carts had a legitimate use for homebrew.

The court saying he can't posses a trinket is more interesting, I suspect they wouldn't be called to court just for using one because they wouldn't know he was using one. If they did and it was for a legimate reason, then I would assume he would have to offer a defense at that stage.

 

[Goku1992A]

Except Nintendo doesn't care if you if you are selling a genned pokemon, once you start selling backup of games then they have a problem with it, it is the intellectual property of these different companies. Trading for a genned pokemon doesn't prove any copyright violation, for example, if Nintendo wants they can buy the seller item and used it as proof in court, that is what Sony did suing someone selling a 5.05 PS4 with backup.

Oh damn I didnt know that.. I think that was the guy who had.to pay like 12k per backup he was selling..

On a side note I thought people was banned using glitched pokemon online. Like a guy who would use a blastoise with wonder guard

 

[altorn]

Should've done business in a 3rd world country like Panama.

 

[83TropicStorm]

So is hacking consoles now illegal or just distributing the software and hardware to "bypass Nintendo's security"? Or just hardware? If so, that's rediculous. It's my console, I should be able to do whatever I want with it. That's what ToS is for. If I don't do what Nintendo wants me to do with it then they can stop providing services like the eShop. Distributing ROMs I agree is pretty scummy but pirates gonna pirate, no matter what. What's next? Is Jailbreaking my iPhone going to be illegal or rooting my Android? What I gather from this, this is essentially Nintendo "loaning" us the console.

 

[ClickCLK]

I can't understand how is this possible. Some guy stores a couple hundreds of 25+ year old NES games for free on not-so-popular website got millions of dollars of fine to pay and this man, who sold pirated games for the Switch, Nintendo's most recent system, for real money, goes away with only a warning. How? Where's the justice in all of this?

Looking at the document, not only he will not pay anything to Nintedo, he will not even pay for their legal expences. I just dont understand. HOW???

 

[DaveLister]

I kinda think of this poor guy like Scottie .

 

[The Real Jdbye]

I better hope that after all this, that this doesn't mean that we'll no longer be able to purchase Trinket M0s, or that they end up being discontinued, even if they won't be used for this hacking purpose.

I know that selling pirated ROM images part is what got this person in trouble, and it makes me wonder why would a select few people ever decide to engage in this.

Nah, the ruling only applies to him. They can't ban a general purpose microcontroller, not unless the creators behind it were endorsing or providing instructions on how to use it on the Switch. They probably don't even know that this is happening.

 

[BaamAlex]

So is hacking consoles now illegal

No. Only what the guy did is illegal.

 

[64bitmodels]

wow, what an asshole
I hope that dipshit got what he deserved

 

[TheZander]

must have missed the amendment that would allow the Defendant to do this or the case law providing how this settlement is unconstitutional. Could you point me in the right direction?

Hello fellow Zander I will look up the amendment right away and get back to you

 

[smf]

So is hacking consoles now illegal or just distributing the software and hardware to "bypass Nintendo's security"? Or just hardware? If so, that's rediculous. It's my console, I should be able to do whatever I want with it.

Where have you been? Although it depends on the country, it's been illegal to hack your console to bypass DRM in the US for years thanks to the DMCA (whether it would cover Atmosphere is something I would love to see tested in court, because it bypasses DRM but doesn't by itself allow backups, but nudge nudge....).

Similar laws in other countries tend to target people selling services, but AFAICT DMCA even covers just doing it yourself. They've obviously got to catch you though & I can't see there being any reason to actually try to take you to court for just modifying your own console even though you're not allowed to do it.

What's next? Is Jailbreaking my iPhone going to be illegal or rooting my Android?

Jailbreaking phones has been specially exempted by the US courts.

 

[BaamAlex]

What's next? Is Jailbreaking my iPhone going to be illegal or rooting my Android?

The only thing you will lose is your warranty. Not more. Modding consoles is and has always been legal.

 

[SXAintSoBad]

The only thing you will lose is your warranty. Not more. Modding consoles is and has always been legal.

@smf is correct and you are incorrect.

Modifying a console which has DRM to bypass the DRM is unequivocally against the law in the USA, specifically the anti-circumvention provisions of the DMCA.

 

[Hells Malice]

I'm more surprised he survived without going bankrupt

 

[smf]

@smf is correct and you are incorrect.

Modifying a console which has DRM to bypass the DRM is unequivocally against the law in the USA, specifically the anti-circumvention provisions of the DMCA.

One of the exemptions is hacking a smart tv to install 3rd party applications, which strongly suggests to me that fusee/gelee or Atmosphere itself might infringe the DMCA too

https://s3.amazonaws.com/public-inspection.federalregister.gov/2018-23241.pdf

Specifically, the petitions state that, absent the exemptions, TPMs applied to the enumerated products would have an adverse effect on noninfringing uses, such as being able to install third-party applications on a smartphone or to download third-party software on a smart TV to enable interoperability.


(7) Computer programs that enable smart televisions to execute lawfully obtained software applications, where circumvention is accomplished for the sole purpose of enabling interoperability of such applications with computer programs on the smart television


Only people in the US are bound by this though, the laws in other countries are different despite them introducing legislation to enforce the Technical Protection Mechanism WIPO treaty.

 

[Retronian-Psyverse]

Good riddance now all we need is to stop these ingrates from promoting piracy on the switch. So instead of wasting hundreds on one thing that breaks the law how about actually supporting the devs who pour hours of their lives to make something amazing only to have it stolen, makes me sick to see things like this happen to hardworking people.

 

[smf]

So instead of wasting hundreds on one thing that breaks the law how about actually supporting the devs who pour hours of their lives to make something amazing only to have it stolen, makes me sick to see things like this happen to hardworking people.

You want to support the devs by trolling all threads with posts about hating TX?

I think there are more important things to get worked up about to be honest and I'm sure SciresM doesn't need you to make yourself sick over it.

 

[Retronian-Psyverse]

they will and hopefully the tx will be taken out.

--------------------- MERGED ---------------------------

You want to support the devs by trolling all threads with posts about hating TX?

I think there are more important things to get worked up about to be honest and I'm sure SciresM doesn't need you to make yourself sick over it.

Actually supporting piracy is just annoying.

 

[Xmortal]

So is hacking consoles now illegal or just distributing the software and hardware to "bypass Nintendo's security"? Or just hardware? If so, that's rediculous. It's my console, I should be able to do whatever I want with it. That's what ToS is for. If I don't do what Nintendo wants me to do with it then they can stop providing services like the eShop. Distributing ROMs I agree is pretty scummy but pirates gonna pirate, no matter what. What's next? Is Jailbreaking my iPhone going to be illegal or rooting my Android? What I gather from this, this is essentially Nintendo "loaning" us the console.

Have you read the terms of use? When buying the console or games we are buying the user license. In other words, the console or the games do not belong to us. And this is not just from Nintendo. They are all companies.

For example, my father lost 600 dollars to buy the Adobe Photoshop CS3 suite for Apple, since Adobe removed the activation support even from the digital version that they give you with serial original. It also just happened to me with Microsoft Office 2007 Student Version that I had installed on my Sony Vaio laptop with Windows 7. I had to download a newer pirated version to use it again.