Hardware Legality on selling modified 3DSes

[MirroredFlower]

I have been planning on building and selling modified o3DS systems for quite a while now. Each system will have a custom color scheme and comes with the latest version of B9H + Luma3DS.

The question of legality was brought up by one of my friends earlier today.

Would it be considered legal to sell a modified o3DS?

 

[Kubas_inko]

It is ilegal if you think about it as business. If you mean it like buing it and then selling it on some site (like ebay or so), then it might be considered legal. (Thats only my opinion)

 

[Brian117]

100% illegal. Even though they're technically your consoles, modifying it in ways that achieve piracy functions, and profiting from it would have some illegality to it. Making a business out of it and profiting from it would be illegal.

 

[EinEin]

I don't think there any laws preventing you from modifying your own console. The only illegal part about that is running backups etc...
So selling your modified console probably isn't illegal unless there are already some illegal games installed.

 

[Kubas_inko]

100% illegal. Even though they're technically your consoles, modifying it in ways that achieve piracy functions, and profiting from it would have some illegality to it. Making a business out of it and profiting from it would be illegal.

It is not illegal to modifie your system, but selling it as business is.

 

[BvanBart]

While it is not totally legal... it is also not illegal. It is a grey area.
I have had a modshop and sold hacked Wii's, R4 cards etc. This was considered "ok". I had to take it down though when I received a letter from Nintendo.
The rules here in the Netherlands are still very vague. A lot of "hack"shops are still out there. It is the way you present yourself.

 

[ThoD]

It's not in a grey area or anything, it's a clear law. You are free to do whatever you want to something you buy, but if you sell it after having violated the user agreement of the item, it's 100% illegal. That means reselling is illegal if you have done anything that goes against the EULA or the other agreements of the system. Even using a flashcart without installing anything on the console and playing games on it is a violation, so basically, you are free to sell only the systems that are vanilla units and haven't been meddled with in any violating ways.

 

[BvanBart]

It's not in a grey area or anything, it's a clear law. You are free to do whatever you want to something you buy, but if you sell it after having violated the user agreement of the item, it's 100% illegal. That means reselling is illegal if you have done anything that goes against the EULA or the other agreements of the system. Even using a flashcart without installing anything on the console and playing games on it is a violation, so basically, you are free to sell only the systems that are vanilla units and haven't been meddled with in any violating ways.

That would imply that body tuners for cars, or chip tuners for cars are also illegal.

 

[ThoD]

That would imply that body tuners for cars, or chip tuners for cars are also illegal.

No it wouldn't, there is literally no EULA for cars whatsoever You can do anything you want to a car as long as it doesn't violate public vehicle laws (eg: having to have specific standards, can't have too high emissions, etc.).

 

[Jayro]

I literally have a friend who wants me to mod a few 3DSes at a time, and she gives me $50 every time. We meet, go have lunch together (She buys) then after I eat, I get my laptop out and get to work. She heads back to work while I mod them, and when I'm done, she flips me $50 bucks. So for roughly a few hours of my time and a $5 day pass for transportation, I get lunch bought for me and $50 on top of it all. We do this every few months, bringing me new unhacked units to install B9S, FBI, and FreeShop on, from her family and friends alike. It's pretty sweet TBH. After the first of the year, I'm going to replace a broken circlepad for her, and convert the unit from A9LH to B9S, for $25. She loves that I do excellent work, and pays me greatly. She says the cost is well worth me knowing what I'm doing, and the convenience of being local and that I go the extra mile by explaining any and all technical aspects of the mods and appsI install.

 

[ThoD]

I literally have a friend who wants me to mod a few 3DSes at a time, and she gives me $50 every time. We meet, go have lunch together (She buys) then after I eat, I get my laptop out and get to work. She heads back to work while I mod them, and when I'm done, she flips me $50 bucks. So for roughly a few hours of my time and a $5 day pass for transportation, I get lunch bought for me and $50 on top of it all. We do this every few months, bringing me new unhacked units to install B9S, FBI, and FreeShop on, from her family and friends alike. It's pretty sweet TBH. After the first of the year, I'm going to replace a broken circlepad for her, and convert the unit from A9LH to B9S, for $25. She loves that I do excellent work, and pays me greatly. She says the cost is well worth me knowing what I'm doing, and the convenience of being local and that I go the extra mile by explaining any and all technical aspects of the mods and appsI install.

Doing it like that IS legal for anyone wondering. Offering a modding service is 100% legal even if you violate the EULA. Selling the modded systems themselves is illegal, so as long as people bring their systems to you to mod them, it's legal to accept payment. It's the same case with how stores used to hardmod consoles for a fee a decade ago (eg: hardmod PS2) and how modded 3DS systems with capture cards are allowed to be sold (reason it costs so much to buy new system with capture card is because part of the money are forwarded to a store that sells the system so on paper you are buying the system and send it to the capture card company for modding, then it's shipped to you).

 

[MirroredFlower]

EDIT: I probably should’ve mentioned that I planned on doing modding services on GBATemp and eBay, not as an actual retail product. (Though I do plan on selling them at a local retro video game store.)

 

[Pleng]

EDIT: I probably should’ve mentioned that I planned on doing modding services on GBATemp and eBay, not as an actual retail product. (Though I do plan on selling them at a local retro video game store.)

It doesn't make a difference where or how you sell them. The fact that you are making a profit from it is the differentiator.

 

[Brian117]

It is not illegal to modifie your system, but selling it as business is.

That's what I said. It's illegal to modify them and sell them for profit. Obviously modifying them and keeping them for yourself is fine, but once you profit from selling your modified items, it's illegal.

 

[kehkou]

In the USA, it is only illegal if they contain pirated games (copyright infringement) .

 

[ThoD]

In the USA, it is only illegal if they contain pirated games (copyright infringement) .

Nope, it's illegal to sell any device that comes with a user agreement or EULA which has been violated and installing CFW or modding it voids those agreements, meaning it's illegal to sell such systems. That law exists in the US, Canada, most of Europe, Australia and Japan under the respective consumer protection categories for each one.

 

[kehkou]

Nope, it's illegal to sell any device that comes with a user agreement or EULA which has been violated and installing CFW or modding it voids those agreements, meaning it's illegal to sell such systems. That law exists in the US, Canada, most of Europe, Australia and Japan under the respective consumer protection categories for each one.

That too. If it has EULA or pirated software, it is illegal in the aforementioned countries. In practice, you could probably easily sell one to a cop (I've hacked a cop's Wii for him).

 

[dimmidice]

It's not in a grey area or anything, it's a clear law. You are free to do whatever you want to something you buy, but if you sell it after having violated the user agreement of the item, it's 100% illegal.

That's completely bullshit in my opinion. What would a user agreement have to do with reselling it? It's completely irrelevant. Selling a jailbroken phone isn't illegal either.

 

[kehkou]

That's completely bullshit in my opinion. What would a user agreement have to do with reselling it? It's completely irrelevant. Selling a jailbroken phone isn't illegal either.

It has to do with contract law. If a EULA says "do not hack and sell this", and you agree to it, then do exactly that, it is technically illegal, but nearly impossible to enforce.

 

[dimmidice]

It has to do with contract law. If a EULA says "do not hack and sell this", and you agree to it, then do exactly that, it is technically illegal, but nearly impossible to enforce.

EULAs aren't laws. Actual laws trump EULAs every time. If a eula says "you can't do this" but then there's a law saying you can do that then the EULA is invalid.