The never-ending legal battle that sees Nintendo face off against the latest copyright circumventing piracy device continues with two brand new lawsuits. On May 15th, Nintendo filed a couple of lawsuits involving entities responsible for reselling devices used for the "sole purpose of which is to hack the Nintendo Switch video game console in order to allow people to play pirated video games." The first lawsuit is against a group of websites and their respective "John Doe" owners, for anxchip.com, axiogame.com, flashcarda.com, mod3dscards.com, nx-card.com, sxflashcard.com, txswitch.com, and usachips.com, while the second suit specifically targets Tom Dilts Jr. and their company Uberchips.

UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURTNORTHERN DISTRICT OF OHIOWESTERN DIVISIONNINTENDO OF AMERICA INC.
Plaintiff
,v.
TOM DILTS, JR.
and
UBERCHIPS, LLC, d/b/a UBERCHIPS.COM

Plaintiff Nintendo of America Inc., by and through its counsel, on personal knowledge as to its own actions and on information and belief as to the actions, capabilities, and motivations of others, hereby alleges as follows:

What all these sites have in common is that they sell Team Xecuter's SX dongle, which allows users to bypass the protection on the Nintendo Switch in order to load custom firmware. Nintendo alleges that these products are used purely for piracy. In the past, Nintendo's taken on TX multiple times, perhaps most notably in 2018 where they won a lawsuit against several people who were selling hacked NES Classic systems and SX chips for the Switch on Offerup.

Nintendo is seeking compensation for "irreparable" damages to the company, as all of the websites have warehouses within the United States, and thus fall within the confines of the law. The monetary demands amount to $2,500 per violation of 17 U.S.C. 1201 (a DMCA provision), as well as $150,000 per violation of Nintendo's rights under the U.S. Copyright Act, in addition to possibly requesting profits the resellers received from selling the offending devices.

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[MrCokeacola]

lol Nintendo continuing to waste money on legal battles that could go towards you know. Making games.

 

[Reecey]

Nintendo can't touch Atmosphere. It goes out of its way to not let you pirate out of the box.

lol what side of the court room have you come from, you’re joking right? They would lube Michael up so much ready for some serious penetration...

 

[ChaosEternal]

lol Nintendo continuing to waste money on legal battles that could go towards you know. Making games.

It's only a waste if they spend more money pursuing the legal case than they earn from having more people purchase games. If making these dongles harder to get earns them more money overall, then it's the logical thing to do. I don't know whether this case in particular meets that burden, but it's surely possible to do so.

lol what side of the court room have you come from, you’re joking right? They would lube Michael up so much ready for some serious penetration...

Just like how the went after Luma or any of the half-dozen other 3DS CFWs, eh?

 

[HRudyPlayZ]

Don't mind me, I'm just here to read all the comments by armchair lawyers talking vaguely about how evil Nintendo is and how the fact that Team Xecuter's SX allows you to do homebrew stuff in addition to pirating games makes them 100% in the clear.

They're not but they're kind of...
Theoretically, they are only in the clear because of SX's stupid marketing, advertising it's use for piracy.
This is the same things for R4s.
If they don't market it as a piracy device, then Nintendo has no rights whatsoever to make them illegal.

 

[SkittleDash]

This wont stop anything if people really want something they will get it. (Dark Web) They can easily set shop where US has zero Jurisdiction

You really think the Dark Web is safe from the law? You couldn't be more wrong.

 

[kingaz]

This wont stop anything if people really want something they will get it. (Dark Web) They can easily set shop where US has zero Jurisdiction

First, just putting something on the dark web does not remove it from US jurisdiction (Silk Road says hi from the grave). Second, even if they could make a stealthier shop, it would also make it harder for customers to find, which would be a win for Nintendo.

 

[Paulsar99]

Not surprised really but nothing is really going to change since people could just buy one directly from chinese online shops.

 

[tech3475]

I'm surprised TX don't try and separate the homebrew aspect from the pirate aspect, especially now that they have a hardware device which people may need even if they don't intend to pirate.

That way at least Nintendo can't argue that it's purely piracy and the defendant can try to plead innocence which may or may not help them.

 

[JayPea]

who is old enough in here to know who liksang was?

I still have one of their t-shirts in storage somewhere that they sent with my Panasonic Q! (I got blind drunk one night and woke up to an email invoice receipt for £499, quite an expensive night in lol)

Also bought some pretty decent 3rd party Samba De Amigo controllers for my Dreamcast from them back in the day.

Damn you, Sony!

I still miss Lik Sang to this day or perhaps it's the frivolous spending I miss - having a mortgage & family is expensive.

 

[MrCokeacola]

It's only a waste if they spend more money pursuing the legal case than they earn from having more people purchase games. If making these dongles harder to get earns them more money overall, then it's the logical thing to do. I don't know whether this case in particular meets that burden, but it's surely possible to do so.


Just like how the went after Luma or any of the half-dozen other 3DS CFWs, eh?

Spite is a wonderful thing. You stop these dongles, there will be more then enough people to step up and continue.

 

[pkmnTobi]

Oh what is this?
A device that offers users to do whatever the fuck they want with the device they purchased?
How is that illegal?

The device itself doesn't come with pirated content of any kind.
Consumers and users have the right to do WHATEVER THE FUCK they want with the device, it's not Nintendo's choice to make what the users do or don't with the Switch.

It's obvious they only seek to gain more money. Nintendo's well known for being greedy fucks, as they aren't losing shit giving how the Switch is selling by the millions.

Seriously, I am amazed and disgusted as to why laws in certain countries defend companies over the rights of the consumers.
Shit like this shouldn't be happening anymore.

Fuck Nintendo ad infinitum.

You have a huge lack of intellectual honesty in this post if you are trying to assert that these aren't being used for 90% piracy, if not more. Also saying that Nintendo is doing this simply for the "money" is highly laughable. You do realize the amount they are suing for is a drop in the bucket for them? That their legal fees themselves aren't cheap to pursue this. They are suing these resellers because they can't sue the creators, so they go after supply. They are trying to protect their intellectual properties, something all companies have to do otherwise they will lose that property in a sense.

And yeah yeah yeah I'm all for users having control over their devices they bought, but don't be so upset when a majority of users ruin that by violating copyright infringements with that ability, and it is SXOS's main selling point. There's a reason Atmosphere is safely sitting on Github and this is being sued, and it isn't because "Nintendo evil! Money give".

 

[Ericzander]

If they don't market it as a piracy device, then Nintendo has no rights whatsoever to make them illegal.

This is the armchair lawyering I'm talking about. Say it with confidence and it'll sound correct! (Even when it's not...)

 

[ChaosEternal]

Spite is a wonderful thing. You stop these dongles, there will be more then enough people to step up and continue.

It doesn't matter if people continue. The only thing that matters is making it just enough of a bother to get one that people don't pursue them. The average person just doesn't care enough one way or another to bother. Just think of how many frivolous sales are made every day where something happens to catch a person's eye and they buy it. Had they never seen it in the first place, then they wouldn't have purchased the doodad. It just isn't that important to them. The interested, perhaps spiteful, person will still pursue it, but that doesn't matter because the vast majority of people are ambivalent. Either way, Nintendo isn't going after the people making these because they can't. Those guys are in China and China only cares about its own markets, everyone else be damned. They're playing wack-a-mole with the distributors instead.

 

[mrgone]

I still have one of their t-shirts in storage somewhere that they sent with my Panasonic Q! (I got blind drunk one night and woke up to an email invoice receipt for £499, quite an expensive night in lol)

Also bought some pretty decent 3rd party Samba De Amigo controllers for my Dreamcast from them back in the day.

Damn you, Sony!

I still miss Lik Sang to this day or perhaps it's the frivolous spending I miss - having a mortgage & family is expensive.

if i rememeber right, my dreamcast broadband adapter and my flash2advance gba flashcarts came from lik sang.
those were the good ol' times....

 

[Goku1992A]

@SkittleDash & kingaz

With due diligence and research you can buy almost anything off the dark-web without being detected. As for the shops I'm saying the site owners need to do something for them not to be traced or host somewhere where the US cant claim legal actions against them. Each time I buy something I don't supposed to be buying I always make sure I receive it but I can't be legally traced. That is what I mean it may be extra work but doing illict activities you have to cover your bases that's why SXOS is still in the game.

Same thing applies when pirating something cover your basis. I learned my lesson from my 1st and only DMCA notice.

 

[HRudyPlayZ]

This is the armchair lawyering I'm talking about. Say it with confidence and it'll sound correct!

It isn't, the only way Nintendo can even legitimately make them illegal would be using SX's piracy marketing.
You can compare the switch hacking scene to the iOS jailbreak, where it was deemed legal for consumers to use their hardware to do anything, it was deemed legal for users to unlock their phones that they paid for and install the software they want on it..

One good argument would be that "it's circumventing copyright protection" which can easily countered by the preservation, archiving and just using the hardware that you paid for like you want to. Which is why nobody, even Apple used that in in the past... Can easily be countered. This argument could work because, again, SX is marketing it as a piracy device and Nintendo can always just sue them for promoting illegal activities on their behalf.

 

[JayPea]

if i rememeber right, my dreamcast broadband adapter and my flash2advance gba flashcarts came from lik sang.
those were the good ol' times....

I'll drink to that Cheers!

 

[weatMod]

who is old enough in here to know who liksang was?

who here is old enough to know who bung is

 

[pkmnTobi]

@SkittleDash & kingaz

With due diligence and research you can buy almost anything off the dark-web without being detected. As for the shops I'm saying the site owners need to do something for them not to be traced or host somewhere where the US cant claim legal actions against them. Each time I buy something I don't supposed to be buying I always make sure I receive it but I can't be legally traced. That is what I mean it may be extra work but doing illict activities you have to cover your bases that's why SXOS is still in the game.

Same thing applies when pirating something cover your basis. I learned my lesson from my 1st and only DMCA notice.

You are talking about the "Dark Web"...which is deep end of the pool, while switch hacking is kiddy pool stuff legally. I really don't know what your point is by just shouting "dark web" as if you're so sinister and off the radar. This kind of stuff isn't what you go to "dark web" for, just order from China. Lmao.

 

[hippy dave]

who is old enough in here to know who liksang was?

who here is old enough to know who bung is

Lik Sang and Bung Enterprises were the fucking glory days