Nintendo secures RCM loader ban in the U.S.

image.jpeg

For anyone living in the United States, buying a RCM Loader just got much more difficult.

As you may have heard, Nintendo filed a lawsuit in November 2020 against Vietnamese resident Le Hoang Minh, who manufactured RCM Loaders and sold them on Amazon under the name "Winmart". This came after a DMCA takedown request from Nintendo, resulting in Amazon taking down his listings. Le disputed the request, allowing him to resume selling the devices. Nintendo called this an abuse of the DMCA's counternotification system, since Le lives in Vietnam, where any consequences for wrongly disputing DMCA takedowns are unenforceable. Due to this, Nintendo sought an injunction by a U.S. court. After the lawsuit was filed, Le did not respond to it, nor did Le enter discussions with Nintendo. This led Nintendo to seek a default judgment.

According to Nintendo, here is why the product is illegal:
Once this circumvention has occurred, the unauthorized CFW modifies the authorized Nintendo Switch operating system, thereby allowing users to obtain and play virtually any pirated game made for the Nintendo Switch. All of this happens without authorization or compensation to Nintendo or to any authorized game publishers
On April 15, 2021, the U.S. court to which Nintendo brought the case has ruled in favor of Nintendo's request for a default judgment. Any online store selling RCM Loaders is now prohibited from shipping them to the U.S.

Nintendo is seeking a total of $2,500 in damages (down from their original request for $2,500 per violation) in an effort to not drag the litigation out much longer:
This request for a $2,500 award is intended to be very conservative and does not reflect anything close to the full amount of damages Nintendo could reasonably seek from Defendant,” the company writes.

Nintendo could…credibly seek a separate award for every device Defendant sold — almost certainly many devices, given that Defendant’s RCM Loader device was available online for many months. However, rather than attempt to quantify Defendant’s total sales, Nintendo seeks to facilitate an efficient resolution of this case through entry of judgment awarding damages for a single § 1201 violation.
The injunction also applies to "any and all products, services, devices, components or parts thereof” that circumvent Nintendo's security measures. Does this mean that Le Hoang Minh (and anyone working with him) can't even sell paperclips?

:arrow: Source (courtesy of TorrentFreak)
 

Attachments

  • 2-20-cv-01707-Nintendo-v-Minh-Winmart-Motion-for-Default-210414.pdf
    211.2 KB · Views: 77
  • 2-20-cv-01707-Nintendo-v-Minh-Winmart-final-judgment-perm-injunction-210415.pdf
    132.8 KB · Views: 74

Tigran

Well-Known Member
Member
Joined
Nov 6, 2002
Messages
1,628
Trophies
2
XP
3,638
Country
United States
Cut off the head, three more will rise. Nintendo is fighting a losing battle here. What's next, banning trinkets? banning any and all FPGAs? Banning any and all micro controllers and Arduino boards? This shit is getting ridiculous, and Nintendo is over-reaching.


It's not only that.. Also it's about showing that they are defending their IPs. if there is not enough "Defense" it can actually cause issues down the line when other people attempt to use them.

That's why a lot of fan games and such that are kept low key have no real problem, it can be argued that they didn't know it existed adn all that.

But once it's getting huge attention, the company can no longer claim ignorance of it. *hence why Blizzard went after the huge Free servers that advertised everywhere, while ignoring the smaller servers that didn't.*
 
  • Like
Reactions: AkiraKurusu

chrisrlink

Has a PhD in dueling
Member
Joined
Aug 27, 2009
Messages
5,528
Trophies
2
Location
duel acadamia
XP
5,666
Country
United States
nintendo is the only company fighting homebrew now (even sony caved with hacker one allowing devs to share the exploits after a certain timeframe after being patched) and MS gave us homebrew use on a silver platter no wonder nintendo is the most hated of the 3
 
  • Like
Reactions: BigOnYa

CanIHazWarez

Well-Known Member
Member
Joined
Jan 21, 2016
Messages
371
Trophies
0
Age
32
XP
1,352
Country
United States
It's not only that.. Also it's about showing that they are defending their IPs. if there is not enough "Defense" it can actually cause issues down the line when other people attempt to use them.

That's why a lot of fan games and such that are kept low key have no real problem, it can be argued that they didn't know it existed adn all that.

But once it's getting huge attention, the company can no longer claim ignorance of it. *hence why Blizzard went after the huge Free servers that advertised everywhere, while ignoring the smaller servers that didn't.*
That's a bs excuse for bullying. Nintendo could sell the developer a revokable license for a dollar. That way no one could accuse them of abandoning an ip. They don't do that, because they would rather be bullies.
 

Tigran

Well-Known Member
Member
Joined
Nov 6, 2002
Messages
1,628
Trophies
2
XP
3,638
Country
United States
Defending an IP and Abandoning an IP are two different things... o.O

And please, I'm really not sure what you mean by selling the developer a revocable license bit? can you please elaborate?
 
  • Like
Reactions: rimoJO

Kioku

猫。子猫です!
Member
Joined
Jun 24, 2007
Messages
11,973
Trophies
2
Location
In the Murderbox!
Website
www.twitch.tv
XP
16,023
Country
United States
The RCMLoader is just a piece of hardware that's absolutely useless on its own. How long until they go after exhumer or totaljustice for releasing the patches to run pirated titles? Are they possibly plotting a way to take aim at atmosphere? I mean, it doesn't allow for pirated titles and isn't built using copyrighted material... But it's a custom firmware, right? Following this absolutely busted logic..

What, exactly, is this tool doing wrong?
 

HarveyHouston

Christian Modder
Member
Joined
Mar 24, 2019
Messages
1,521
Trophies
2
Location
The Point of Know Return
XP
1,962
Country
United States
Sounds like The Team Xecuters Takedown - Part II. :P

Nintendo is being reeaaallly touchy about Switch hacking, more-so than they were about hacks for the Wii U, 3DS, DSi, and even the Wii (of which the Wii is probably the most hacked console EVER, at least for Nintendo). At this point, I wouldn't touch Switch hacks with a ten foot pole (or even a six foot pole, nowadays? :P ).

Good luck to everyone who decides to mod for the Switch; I guarantee that you're going to have a difficult time doing it. Nintendo has ramped up security for the Switch models, and circumventing even a small fraction will cause Nintendo to, as the All-American Rejects so eloquently put it, "give you hell". Even if they don't file a lawsuit against you, they could lock you out of your account, and possibly disable the modded Switch unit altogether. Until Nintendo doesn't support the Switch anymore, Switch hacks will be EXTREMELY difficult to pull off proper without something going wrong.

...Not that I don't approve of Switch hacks, for I do, very much - and not because I approve of piracy (for I don't), but because the homebrew community is very creative. I'm just saying that Nintendo is fighting the homebrew community over Switch hacks. My prediction is that no matter how much they try, Nintendo will eventually lose, because hackers never quit. :)
 

Dust2dust

Well-Known Member
Member
Joined
Jun 17, 2010
Messages
2,373
Trophies
2
XP
4,263
Country
Canada
No, they'd first go after the cables - banning PCs would be self-harm, considering most devs use them to make Switch games. You can't make a game using a cable, though.
My god, I hope they don't ban USB-C cables! How am I gonna charge my Switch pro controller then? Lucky that Nintendo includes one in the box. :rofl:
 

Site & Scene News

Popular threads in this forum

General chit-chat
Help Users
  • No one is chatting at the moment.
    K3Nv2 @ K3Nv2: Sorry for accidentally bending over