Nintendo sent Valve DMCA notice for Dolphin Emulator

[Tom Bombadildo]

Nintendo is well known for their rampant DMCA policies, sending notices to small and big names alike for anything that remotely smells like their IP is being infringed upon, even in cases where fair use applies. This time, Nintendo is going after Valve and, indirectly, the Dolphin team, by sending a DMCA notice to Valve in regards to Dolphin's upcoming Steam release. Despite emulation being a legal gray area, Nintendo claims:

"Because the Dolphin emulator violates Nintendo’s intellectual property rights, including but not limited to its rights under the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA)’s Anti-Circumvention and AntiTrafficking provisions, 17 U.S.C. § 1201, we provide this notice to you of your obligation to remove the offering of the Dolphin emulator from the Steam store."

The Dolphin team has since removed Dolphin Emulator from Steam, and posted the following on their blog:

It is with much disappointment that we have to announce that the Dolphin on Steam release has been indefinitely postponed. We were notified by Valve that Nintendo has issued a DMCA against Dolphin's Steam page, and have removed Dolphin from Steam until the matter is settled. We are currently investigating our options and will have a more in-depth response in the near future.
We appreciate your patience in the meantime.

Source
Dolphin Blog Post

 

[CeeDee]

say it with me: "it's always morally correct"

 

[SylverReZ]

It's always morally correct to pirate Nintendo games.

 

[Lostbhoy]

Had to be expected when I saw the announcement about it being on Steam but it's still a dick move.... Is Dolphin not available on Playstore? Any notices there?

 

[BETA215]

say it with me: 'I would like people not going to jail, and be able to enjoy things at the same time'
maybe Steam was too much, I guess accessibility has a certain limit when it can only be implemented by corporations unless *everyone* does something to change the power ratio overall.

 

[The Catboy]

Regular reminder, always pirate Nintendo games

 

[linuxares]

It's getting old about the "it's always morally correct to pirate X games" you will do it anyway.

I'm more interested what exactly they think they can stand on here? TPM circumvention again?

 

[The Catboy]

It's getting old about the "it's always morally correct to pirate X games" you will do it anyway.

I'm more interested what exactly they think they can stand on here? TPM circumvention again?

I don't care about mortality, I am just a pirate

 

[Bladexdsl]

it amazes me just how stupid some people are. did these idiots actually think they would get away with?! they must have been living under a rock to not notice how fucking ruthless nintendo are lately

 

[DumpsterDivin]

Has nintendo always been this way? What happened to the carefree days when I thought they were a friendly company, just looking to deliver fun to youngsters and oldsters alike? Was it simply the blindness of my youth? Is this just another example of a company losing their identity?

 

[Bladexdsl]

Has nintendo always been this way? What happened to the carefree days when I thought they were a friendly company

that died with iwata. now pretty much a 90's gates clone is in charge now

 

[boot3]

Honestly, knowing how Nintendo is with their copyright, I saw this coming from a mile away.

 

[GaroK]

I've always had certain guidelines and lines not to cross when it comes to piracy, but nintendo just keeps pressing people to hate them. I wanted to get a Switch, and I don't care if that gets me banned or not, I will try to setup Yuzu, then play and enjoy nintendo games without paying them, as a direct result of them illegally taking down a legal emulator from Steam.

 

[linuxares]

I've always had certain guidelines and lines not to cross when it comes to piracy, but nintendo just keeps pressing people to hate them. I wanted to get a Switch, and I don't care if that gets me banned or not, I will try to setup Yuzu, then play and enjoy nintendo games without paying them, as a direct result of them illegally taking down a legal emulator from Steam.

Except at this current moment, it's not fully legal.