R4 Cards Outlawed In The UK

R4 Cards Outlawed In The UK
ELSPA also welcomes the UK R4 Ban

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The London High Court has outlawed the importing, advertising or sale of the R4 device that lets users play illegally pirated software on DS.

The ruling was made against toy and gadget seller Playables Ltd and defendant Wai Dat Chan, who had argued that the R4 is legal because it enables the use of homebrew applications.

The court dismissed the defendant’s claims and ruled the device to be illegal because it has to circumvent Nintendo’s security systems before it can work, MCV reports.

“In the UK alone, there have been over 100,000 game copying devices seized since 2009,” Nintendo said in a statement. “Nintendo initiates these actions not only on its own behalf, but also on behalf of over 1,400 video game development companies that depend on legitimate sales of games for their survival.”

Last week a Dutch court convicted 11 retailers of acting unlawfully by trading in DS R4 cards and Wii mod chips.[/p]

The Entertainment and Leisure Software Publishers Association (ELSPA) has welcomed a a London High Court ruling outlawing
the importing, advertising or sale of the R4 device that lets users play illegally pirated software on DS.

The court said that, because the R4 and similar devices allow users to play pirated or copied games by circumventing security measures, they constitute a breach of copyright.

“We are delighted with today’s decision to make the advertisement, importation and sale of R4 copier cards illegal,” said ELSPA director general Michael Rawlinson. “The ELSPA Intellectual Property (IP) Crime Unit was central in bringing the defendants to the attention of law enforcement authorities. I am grateful to them and our partners at Nintendo and Trading Standards in securing this significant judgement.

“Intellectual property theft is an important issue for the videogames industry, and this judgement will assist the IP Crime Unit team in actively pursuing and stopping other individuals who deal in R4 cards.”

According to Rawlinson, who was recently appointed
vice chairman of the Alliance Against IP Theft, the UK games software industry alone is estimated to lose £350 million annually as a result of IP theft.[/p]
 Source 1 (Edge)
 Source 2 (Edge)
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