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NOA to Sue for Flash Advance Linkers
SamMichaels writes: "I just received a letter from Nintendo of America claiming that Flash Advance Linkers violate the DMCA...I'm to cease sale in my store, and surrender all remaining units to Nintendo. The letter is posted on the front page of Zophar's Domain. Any pro bono lawyers out there?"
Before stirring up the big crock of readers, you might first explain what the hell a flash advance linker is, and why we should give a damn.
with all the problems and everything we have with this, why doesnt someone change this law???
i have already contacted my senators and house members, what else can one do???
Technically, you ARE violating the DMCA, regardless of its constitutional value.
When nuance becomes the only objective we lose the ability to function
You've got some stock that I assume you legally obtained and post-facto, they want to have the stock turned over to THEM? Shouldn't it be given to customs at least?
And did these units come through customs in the first place? If so, why weren't they held up then????
The Blaster Master Fighting for Truth, Justice, and Evil Pie since 1979
If you haven't already, I would contact the EFF--even though the linker has non-infringing uses, it isn't going to look as innocent as a serial cable, but it's worth at try.
~~~
...if companies are allowed to seize the stock of something that was being sold and may be borderline. If this extends too far, stores may not even want to keep any inventory on hand for fear of it being seized and them not compensated, when they most likely doing nothing wrong by selling them.
When DCMA first came out, I was worried, but I didn't think that large companies would really use it that much. Anyone know if this is wide spread yet, or are companies (like nintendo) only going after a small number of distributors, hoping that the other ones get scared?
Sounds like the FAL of the GBA.
Pun intended.
Since the shopping site is low on details, here's TechTV's 7-paragraph description of the product.
Dear Sam Michaels:
a cc
Nintendo of America Inc. (NOA) is providing this letter of notification pursuant to the Digital Millennium Copyright Act, USC 17 1201(b) (DMCA) and the US Customs ruling dated December 20, 2001, regarding the import, distribution and sale of the Flash Advance Linker. US Customs confirmed the Flash Advance Linker violates the DMCA and is subject to confiscation.
This notice is addressed to the agent designated by Zophar's Domain to receive notifications of claimed infringements, as reflected in the current records of the U.S. Copyright Office.
NOA has a good faith belief that the internet site found at www.zophar.net infringes Nintendo's intellectual property rights by distributing illegal imports of the Flash Advance Linker in violation of section 1201(b) of the DMCA and subject to seizure under 19 USC 1595a(c)(2)(c) by US Customs.
The e-commerce page offering the Flash Advance Linker for sale was found on your site at:
http://www.zophar.net/store/items.phtml?gba-
Nintendo demands that you immediately cease the importation, distribution and sale of the Flash Advance Linker and turn over your remaining stock to Nintendo.
The Flash Advance Linker appearing on Zophar.net has been identified by its title, description [and/or] depictions of associated artwork. Based on the information at its disposal on February 19, 2002, NOA believes that the statements in this notice are accurate and correctly describe the infringing nature and status of the infringing material.
Should you have any questions, please contact Nintendo of America Inc. at the following address, telephone and fax numbers, and/or e-mail address:
Nintendo of America Inc.
Attn: Anti-Piracy Group
4820 150th Ave. NE
Redmond, WA 98052
Telephone: 425-861-2187
Fax: 425-882-3585
E-mail: Noalegal@noa.nintendo.com
We look forward to working with you to immediately resolve this matter.
Sincerely,
NINTENDO OF AMERICA INC.
help fill in hidden movie endings @ End of the Credits
Is it just me or does it seem like every company is suddenly pretending they are bearing the cross of piracy.. How long before you have to buy gamesharks on the black market?? Before your aftermarket controller for your ps2 is infringing on sony's right to sell you their controller.
Fire in the hands of the village idiot is no tool, but a weapon of mass destruction
I never really understood how something that had legitimate uses that were not illegal could be classified as breaking any laws. Something that requires users to actually voluntarily start using it to, for example, warez nintendo games rather than play PD shoot em ups seems to put the crime squarly on the shoulders of the user than the makers of the tool.
Hell, I could beat up old people with VHS copies of TV's Blossom, but I would never advocate banning Blossom... well, I *would*, but for taste reasons more than anything. Damn that annoying Six!
http://www.davetansley.com - you proba
Maybe you could move to Russia?
Oh wait... nevermind
Don't ping my cheese with your bandwidth!
Are you going to comply or are you going to fight it out? You know you have the support of the slashdot community if you take the path less traveled. Best of luck!
DMCA or no, this device allows people to copy GBA games. Legally right or wrong, it's a pretty rude thing to do.
You think companies are making games for the mental excercise of it?
I hope you get shut down.
Potato chips are a by-yourself food.
I don't think I've seen a better example that the DMCA stifles innovation than this.
Can You Say Linux? I Knew That You Could.
I'm sad that they're suing because if you can't make copies, dogs can eat the information!
What's so rude about it? Can you enlighten the rest of us?
- A.P.
"Remember when the U.S. had a drug problem, and then we declared a War On Drugs, and now you can't buy drugs anymore?"
Since when did US Customs become an authority on copyright law? Yes, they have a responsibility to prevent the import of items which violate the DMCA, but it's on a case by case basis and always subject to appeal.
What part of the DMCA gives NOA the right to ask for the unsold stock?
--
E_NOSIG
From: Nintendo of America, To: ZD
a cc
18:02: Read this:
Dear Sam Michaels:
Nintendo of America Inc. (NOA) is providing this letter of notification pursuant to the Digital Millennium Copyright Act, USC 17 1201(b) (DMCA) and the US Customs ruling dated December 20, 2001, regarding the import, distribution and sale of the Flash Advance Linker. US Customs confirmed the Flash Advance Linker violates the DMCA and is subject to confiscation.
This notice is addressed to the agent designated by Zophar's Domain to receive notifications of claimed infringements, as reflected in the current records of the U.S. Copyright Office.
NOA has a good faith belief that the internet site found at www.zophar.net infringes Nintendo's intellectual property rights by distributing illegal imports of the Flash Advance Linker in violation of section 1201(b) of the DMCA and subject to seizure under 19 USC 1595a(c)(2)(c) by US Customs.
The e-commerce page offering the Flash Advance Linker for sale was found on your site at:
http://www.zophar.net/store/items.phtml?gba-
Nintendo demands that you immediately cease the importation, distribution and sale of the Flash Advance Linker and turn over your remaining stock to Nintendo.
The Flash Advance Linker appearing on Zophar.net has been identified by its title, description [and/or] depictions of associated artwork. Based on the information at its disposal on February 19, 2002, NOA believes that the statements in this notice are accurate and correctly describe the infringing nature and status of the infringing material.
Should you have any questions, please contact Nintendo of America Inc. at the following address, telephone and fax numbers, and/or e-mail address:
Nintendo of America Inc.
Attn: Anti-Piracy Group
4820 150th Ave. NE
Redmond, WA 98052
Telephone: 425-861-2187
Fax: 425-882-3585
E-mail: Noalegal@noa.nintendo.com
We look forward to working with you to immediately resolve this matter.
Sincerely,
NINTENDO OF AMERICA INC.
It takes 40+ muscles to frown, but only four to extend your arm and bitchslap the motherfucker
Is this even legal?
I thought that these products weren't considered "reverse engineering" and that they were more like somebody creating a wheel that would fit standard cars. Anybody think this will hold up in court (assuming the vendors have the resources to fight it)?
"PROFANITY is the inevitable literary crutch of the inarticulate MOTHER FUCKER." -- some PC user
I have a feeling that the /. effect will shut this guy's store down faster than the DMCA could ever hope to.
Cheaper than going to his ISP and cutting him off there, and certainly cheaper than legal battles
Ok, I cannot figure out how the hell the DMCA would apply here. It appears to me that the product allows the download of the data off of the cartridges and onto the computer, as well as the upload of data from the computer to the GBA. It would seem to me that if that were illegal computer CD players and CDRW burners would be illegal as well as they allow COPYRIGHTED data to be transfered to a computer, and then through use of a burner transfered from the computer onto the media. Somebody should hand the NintenDUH people a cluestick.
according to the letter (and nintendo.com which i checked just to satisfy my distraught, disbelieving eyes), nintendo is based out of Redmond, WA.
that's a weird freaking coincidence.
Well, there were two gameboy advance competitions. One was on www.gbadev.org - go take a look.Obviously quite a few people are using these for purposes other than pirating.
"Never, never suspect the dreams within the dreams of dreaming children." ~The Amazon Quartet
This is not a new tactic by Nintendo, not by a long shot. They have managed to only recently begin to woo back a customer and developer base that they chased off with their draconian and/or simple bad business decisions in the past. Nintendo refuses to ever port any games to other platforms even though it could make them more money. Their short termed arrogance is only surpassed by the sheeps, er people's ability to conveniently ignore their actions for the ability to play a game. (gee, if people can play on pc's they would not buy our system... bingo! your system sucks then, so make it better) Please don't just bitch. Either actively do something about it or shut up.
if you are clearly selling stuff for a profit? people that sell these devices should really be smart enough to expect to face these kinds of things before they decide to set up shop...
http://www.visoly.com/fa_linker.php
The Flash Advance Linker is the first professionial mass produced development device for the Gameboy(TM) Advance.
Just like a Cradle for your Palm or other Handheld Computer, the GBA Flash Advance Linker is plugged in to the printer port of your PC. Once connected, it can simply send and receive game ROM data from or to the plugged in game or Flash Cartridge.
Reading out game ROM data (dumping):
Once your original GBA game has been plugged in to the Flash Advance Linker, you can use the provided software to read out the rom data and save it to your local PC harddrive as a so-called ROM file. The Flash Advance Linker also lets you read out the savegame to store it in an extra file - you won't use any game data, e.g. when the battery in your original GBA game gets empty.
Sending ROM files to your empty cartridge (Flash Advance 64/128/256M):
Simply use the provided software to open the ROM file from your harddrive, it will then send the data through the printer port to the Flash Advance Linker, which will store the data in the Cartridge - just as when you connect your MP3 Player to your PC to 'fill' it with songs. Totally easy!
***
Yup, this can be used to pirate games. It can also be used to back them up, too... But hey, the DMCA doesn't care about that.
For all that is wrong with it, DMCA did not abandon or overturn this concept. This item, like a VCR, obviously has significant utility that does not involve violation of copyright. Nintendo doesn't stand a chance.
Slashdot - News for Herds. Stuff that Splatters.
Where does the law allow Nintendo to make this demand? "...turn over your remaining stock to Nintendo."
Defecation occurs.
IANAL, but it seems like the arguement is pretty simple to me. This device lets you pull games off of carts and put games onto carts, right? This case should be pretty easy.
Just bring up video editing stations. They're perfectly legal, right? What do they allow you to do? You can pull video off a tape, DAT or DVD, and put video onto a tape, DAT or DVD. You need to do this in order to do your job as a video content producer. You can't do your job without this equipment. If the government were to make it illegal, you'd be screwed. Since video editing equipment is still legal, thus the standard is set.
Back to the Flash thingy. GBA programmers cannot do their job without a device to put code onto the carts and get it back off them, nor can they sell their product without a means to get the programs to people.
All you have to do to win is argue that this standard has already been set in the courts with the video equipment, a precedent therefore exists, and to top it off a bunch of small businesses (which America is supposed to adore) would be obliterated without this equipment they need to perform their legitimate occupations. Seems pretty easy to me.
Call me if you want me to argue the case.
This tagline is umop apisdn.
Demanding you to turn over your remaining stock to them is just stupid.
Maybe we should start sending letters out to Microsoft informing them that they abuse monopoly powers (already proven in court for us) and that they must immediately turn over all their remaining Windows stock to us...
err.. if you don't have enough AOL coasters, that is.
Seriously though, did I mention it's stupid?
Screw Nintendo and the jackass they rode in on.
If it is merely a flash memory, how, exactly is it circumventing an encryption scheme? Obviously something is going on there, else we would be unlikely to see the Verisign logo so prominently displayed at the web site. If anybody knows what is going on there, I'd be most interested.
As to "pro bono" attorneys, why would you ever need to rely on that? You're just the buyer of a vendor's accused product. As the buyer of goods under the Uniform Commercial Code, you generally receive them subject to an implied warranty against infringement. Ordinarily, even if the warranty is expressly disclaimed, purchase orders still provide for indemnification of IP claims. Why not call the vendor and ask them why their "for a buck" lawyer isn't protecting you for free? You might also ask your insurance company if you have any coverage under you general umbrella, either for advertising injury or otherwise.
Of course, this isn't legal advise one way or the other. There aren't sufficient facts presented to indicate whether or not you would be liable, not liable for the demand or have, not have a claim for contribution from your vendors or distributors. It would make sense, and you really, really have to do this now, to have a lawyer at least look at the coverage questions.
From the website:
The Flash Advance Linker is similar to a cradle for your handheld computer. It plugs into your parallel port and sends/receives ROM data from/to the game or flash cartridge. Once game data is transfered, the flash cartridge is used exactly like a normal game cartridge.
If you're selling products which can be used to copy Nintendo games, you're going to get legally screwed, that's just life. The DMCA is ridiculous when it comes to sharing mp3's and mpeg movies because those things are not exact duplicates of the original. This, however, is a device which someone could use to produce exact copies of nintendo games and then resell them, and that's just plain illegal, and justifiably so.
~ now you know
As far as I can tell, this is a good candidate for an interesting trial:
1) It CAN be used to copy games illegally. I don't think anyone will disagree.
2) It CAN be used to _legally_ copy games, or save data. Nintendo might try to disagree with this being legal, but I don't think they can convince anyone of that in a courtroom.
So, it has both uses that are legal, and those that infringe on copyright.
It's been awhile since I read the DMCA, so I'm not sure which particular provision selling this device is supposed to be violating. I'm guessing it's the sale/distribution of a copy-protection-circumvention device.
The hardware angle would be silly, so it must be that they claim copying their ROMs is the violation. Are GBA ROMs encrypted, or otherwise proof from copying beyond their storage on a chip in a funky plastic case?
Bottom line, I think these people could mount a fairly strong challenge to at least the lawsuit, and possibly take the route of the DMCA being unconstitutional: It's being used to make a _fair use_ under copyright -- space/time shifting of user data -- illegal.
Xentax
You shouldn't verb words.
Stuff like this pisses me off. I have used like devices to carry all my legitimate games, which I have purchaed, on a single card. It is just damn convient, rather then carry 5-10 little cartriges around. I would have no problem if NOA sued the people pirating games, but suing over a Flash cart? Jesus is it really that much of a freaking trade secret? Carts are not new or secret tech. Just more use of the DMCA to boost sales.
This is probably just a ploy to get us /.'ers to buy a bunch of these things before "Nintendo makes him give them over to them." :)
All kidding aside, I used to like the big N a lot back in the day, but how can this break the DMCA? Is the fact that there are not readily available cart readers mean that it's a "circumvention device?" It doesn't appear to decrypt anything or break any kind of circ. device, looks like it just copies bits off the cart.
So someone more knowledgable want to explain how this falls under the DMCA?
Free Online Woodworking Resources Directory
if you're planning to take this one to court. I'm no lawyer, but it seems to me that this product has a number of uses apart from just making illegal copies of games. It's annoying that nintendo has a total lock on development for their systems, which make the hobbyist completely unable to work on programming games or apps for their products because they can't afford the horrificly expensive developers kits. It may not get you off, but it would be an interesting angle to pursue. Make them look like the bad guy, because they are.
VHS, DVD, and the like are standards. Nintendo cartridges are not. The content of VHS tapes is protected, but not the actual device. In the case of the Nintendo cartridge, the entire thing is protected by copyright. This means that the precedent does not apply.
~ now you know
This was nothing more then a form letter from NOA legal, for this reason. Some guy at www.cultchydren.com e-mailed NOA with the following(a cut and paste from their site, I don't want to give them any traffic)
Subj: Sales of illegal copier units
Date: 2/12/02 6:58:47 PM Pacific Standard Time
From: cultchyldren@aol.com
To: piracyscene@noa.nintendo.com
Dear NOA Legal:
During my searches to find LEGAL NOA distributers and local stores, I stumbled onto a very disturbing piracy site. It can be found at: http://www.zophar.net/. It is a site that has illegal emulators on it, but the most disturbing part is that they use the illegal emulators to draw in people to buy illegal copier units for the Gameboy Advance system.
I thought that I should inform you that people were making dishonest money from your products, and should be looked into quickly. These people should be shown that stealing is wrong. If you need a direct url to the problem, it can be found at: http://www.zophar.net/store/items.phtml?gba-acc
The guys from the site have a grudge against zophar.net that goes back years, not getting into it.
But I just wanted to clear up that this isn't just NOA laying down the law for no reason. This is just a form letter, a response to the e-mail that was sent to them above.
If this trend of corporate abuse is allowed to continue, eventually your brain will be illegal under the DMCA.
You are being MICROattacked, from various angles, in a SOFT manner.
...IBM has issued a cease-and-desist letter against makers of so-called "floppy disks".
Why am I suddenly reminded of Homer Simpson looking skyward and saying, "I'm not usually a praying man, but if you can hear me, save me, Superman!"
Even if the EFF or another advocacy group is in a position to swoop down from the sky and help take your case, this is a major international corporation you're dealing with, and a broadly written law (the DMCA) that has many constitutional questions surrounding it. You will likely need to spend the money on a good attorney to represent you if you intend to fight this.
Is it just me or has the EFF proven themselves incompetent? I don't think it's just me. I've seen comments here before pointing to the EFFs lack of real knowledge of issues and the way they've bungled cases. People have pointed to the Center for Democracy and Technology as the people we should throw our support behind.
Additions to the system with any 3rd party upgrade has been severyly limited. This limits the systems value. I'll keep that in mind. It limits the value of the core product to a low level. I no longer see value in closed propritory systems. No thanks. I can vote with my wallet and not break the DMCA.
The truth shall set you free!
I used to live in Washington, and the legend there was that a local teen made the origional nes and sold the plans to Nintendo. It doesn't match what I have read on the net on the history of the net, but that is the legend.The nes that was finally sold obviously was modified from it's origional version, reguardless of what story you listen to.
"Never, never suspect the dreams within the dreams of dreaming children." ~The Amazon Quartet
And did these units come through customs in the first place? If so, why weren't they held up then????
usually when items liked this are shipped, they are marked in a way so that customs doesn't stop them. i have seen them shipped marked as "gift" with a value of "under $30 USD". coming from Hong Kong you can get an item in less than 10 business days in this manner.
it is a constant discussion around our office when someone's linker for their GBA arrives: how does US Customs know what is inside is not drugs, kiddie pr0n, etc?? we don't know. all we know is marking it in the above fashion seems to work.
no idea if the guy in this story got his sent marked as such, but i would bet he did.
/* Half alive and half dead too, work is for suckers and the sucker is you. - "Half-life" by Local H*/
There is no reverse engineering going on here. Everything regarding the technical know how to do this is available from Nintendo themselves. SamMichaels is it? Tell Nintendo to take the DMCA and shove it up their ass. While you're at it send them a flash linker and tell them to make you a deal you can't refuse. Otherwise; tough shit for them. All of this could of been avoided with a simple, we'll buy all the flash linkers you have and pay you not to make any for the next 5 yrs. Maybe they could of thought of something like this first, but when you are late to the market don't pull this DMCA shit outta your ass Nintendo. We know what it is, we don't like it and we don't like big companies thinking they can do whatever they want flashing the DMCA in everyones face when it doesn't apply; especially when it's something you should of thought of yourself and now wanna knock the small guy down so you can then make money off his idea. Fuck you; I feel like returning my Gamecube and denouncing up down up down left right left right a b start.
Items which violate the DMCA include:
pencil/pen and paper
typewriter
word processors
floppy disks
hard disks
any network which links 2 or more computers
serial, parallel, network, USB and firewire cables
modems
VCRs and PVRs
I'm sure I've missed some obvious ones.
-jeff
-- Two men say they're Jesus. One of them must be wrong. - Dire Straits
With all software, movies, and such, you are entitled to 1 personal backup copy. It seems that it would be hard to manufacture your own GBA cartridges... This just allows you to make a copy in case your little brother flushes your favorite game down the toilet...
Fire in the hands of the village idiot is no tool, but a weapon of mass destruction
The law does not allow for this demand. However anyone can make whatever demands they want.
Essentially, they are saying he is in violation of the DMCA. If he stops selling, and gives them his stock, they wont prosecute him, or sue him for civil damages.
If he doesnt give it over (and he doesnt have to) then they will go by the book, and try to nail him for what they say is a violation of the DMCA
I didn't know that US Customs was a body capable of ruling on whether a product violates the DMCA. Once something is determined to violate the DMCA, it would make sense that they could confiscate it but they are an enforcement organization.
From all descriptions I've read (not that many) the primary purpose of this device is to copy GBA roms to catridges that can be played on the GBA. All marketing I can find markets it as a development tool. I don't see how it meets the ``primarily designed for...'' requirements.
Then again, IANAL
No, he refused to mis-label his packages in an attempt to not cause problems with Customs. Read the site.
"Never, never suspect the dreams within the dreams of dreaming children." ~The Amazon Quartet
But if the business ordered a bunch of them, wouldn't customs suspect about 100 of these packages flowing in?
The Blaster Master Fighting for Truth, Justice, and Evil Pie since 1979
You couldn't "root" an NT box even if you were given the Administrator password.
That is what sold me on a PC in the late 80's. Lots of stuff could be found for it. The original box & DOS was pretty much useless. It was after other things came out for it that it actualy had value. Segate, Maxstor, Traveling Software, Norton, Lotus, Intel, Electronic Arts, Ad Lib, and other non IBM brands is what made the IBM PC go. Without them a dual floppy 128K PC was about useless.
While it is possible to use such devices to develop games, that is not the intended market for this product. This product is probably used to copy commercial games onto secondary media. In and of its self, Nintendo would not care too much. However, because anyone can buy it online, it makes casual piracy too easy. People can use this tool to buy a game, burn it, and return it. Or they can simply find the ROM online, and not even purchase it.
Emulators are not too much of a threat to a console. The games simply suck badly when played on a Keyboard, and PC controllers just dont feel right. But this allows you to play these games on a GBA. This is a direct threat to what is currently Nintendo's most consistent source of income. So of course they will go after it and try to kill it.
END COMMUNICATION
Mainly, that it *takes away* the previously established right to make a single copy for backup purposes. It clearly states that circumventing copy protection is grounds to be in violation of the DMCA. And don't blather on about constitutionality... the right to make a single backup for archive purposes is only spelled out in the 1971 Copyright Act.
Granted, I don't agree with the DMCA, but this device is *very clearly* a violation of it. It's not that it's *used* to make copies of protected material, but that it's *designed* to make copies of protected materials.
picked up Noalegal@noa.nintendo.com and took them out for a nice date? Noalegal@noa.nintendo.com Noalegal@noa.nintendo.com Noalegal@noa.nintendo.com Noalegal@noa.nintendo.com Noalegal@noa.nintendo.com
What, me worry?
Let me start by saying IANAL - so this isn't advice. If you're looking for pro bono help, contact the EFF or someone.
That being said, it looks like its yet another example of the ol' "substantial non-infringing use" argument. This is the same logic that Sony floated to get the VCR past Hollywood's objections back in the day. For anyone interested in poking around on FindLaw.com, that's Sony Corp. of America v. Universal Studios, Inc., 464 U.S. 417 (1984). See also Vault Corp. v. Quaid Software, Ltd., 847 F.2d 255 (5th Cir. 1988).
The basic idea is that the VCR was a 'staple article of commerce' - it was widely used for legitimate, unobjectionable purposes, such that this value outweighed any infringing conduct that it might facilitate. I'd like to hear what any other law-oriented folks out there think.
Can the Flash Advance Linker be construed as a staple article of commerce? Isn't this the same argument that Diamond made to avoid an injunction on the Rio?
On the one hand, the back-up capacity of a product always lends creedence to the substantial non-infringing use argument. And suppressing the device to prevent public-domain games from entering the market might even be construed as misuse of copyright (reference Napster's counterattack on A&M... but I digress...)
On the other hand, notice of alleged infringement goed toward undermining the 'staple article of commerce' argument. The Ninth Circuit's Napster opinion suggested that the 'staple article of commerce' argument only went toward the knowledge element of contributory infringement, and thus didn't matter, because the evidence demonstrated that Napster clearly had knowledge of the infringing conduct.
Come to think of it, I don't know of any distributors ever making this argument. Particularly when no one has raised any arguments about contributory infringment.
So what do all you IP types out there think?
It may be cold, but at least it's clear.
FYI: This is the section of the DMCA sited in the letter.
1201. Circumvention of copyright protection systems...
...b) Additional Violations.
(1) No person shall manufacture, import, offer to the public, provide, or otherwise traffic in any technology, product,
service, device, component, or part thereof, that-
(A) is primarily designed or produced for the purpose of circumventing protection afforded by a technological measure that effectively protects a right of a copyright owner under this title in a work or a portion thereof;
(B) has only limited commercially significant purpose or use other than to circumvent protection afforded by a technological measure that effectively protects a right of a copyright owner under this title in a work or a portion thereof; or
(C) is marketed by that person or another acting in concert with that person with that person's knowledge for use in circumventing protection afforded by a technological measure that effectively protects a right of a copyright owner under this title in a work or a portion thereof.
(2) As used in this subsection-
(A) to "circumvent protection afforded by a technological measure" means avoiding, bypassing, removing, deactivating, or otherwise impairing a technological measure; and
(B) a technological measure "effectively protects a right of a copyright owner under this title" if the measure, in the ordinary course of its operation, prevents, restricts, or otherwise limits the exercise of a right of a copyright owner under this title.
ORIGIONAL TEXT HERE.
The law doesn't, except if he's being properly compensated. That doesn't mean that Nintendo can't put it into their letter though.
arrgh! I posted this story yesterday, it got rejected! Mod me down or whatever, but I'm starting to get pissed off about scooping other people only to see the same damn post going up.
13 year old white supremacists are shitty web designers.
Here is the DNS for the manufacturers web site
Visoly
Henry Lo
Shop 64, G/F, 148 - 152 Fuk Wah Street, Shum Shui Po
Hong Kong, Kowloon -
HK
Phone: +852 23785236
Fax..: +852 23785237
Email: webmaster@visoly.com
I presume its harder to go after the HK connection, so shut down any US marketing and distribution for the product first. A cheap form lawyers letter might get you some results
I would suggest the recipient gets some quick PROPER legal advice first - THEN decides on his response
(b) ADDITIONAL VIOLATIONS- (1) No person shall manufacture, import, offer to the public, provide, or otherwise traffic in any technology, product, service, device, component, or part thereof, that--
(A) is primarily designed or produced for the purpose of circumventing protection afforded by a technological measure that effectively protects a right of a copyright owner under this title in a work or a portion thereof;
(B) has only limited commercially significant purpose or use other than to circumvent protection afforded by a technological measure that effectively protects a right of a copyright owner under this title in a work or a portion thereof; or
(C) is marketed by that person or another acting in concert with that person with that person's knowledge for use in circumventing protection afforded by a technological measure that effectively protects a right of a copyright owner under this title in a work or a portion thereof.
(IANAL) www.visoly.com markets the device as a means for independant game developers to produce their own cartridges. Unless you or someone you know is marketing it as a game copier, NOA would have to prove that independant game developers are a "limited commercially significant purpose", or that visoly is cooperating with someone who is marketing the device as a game copier.
--IANAL--
They say it is illegal according to section 1201(b), but they don't get too specific.
By their own argument you can say that section 1201 (b) section 2) paragraphs (A) and (B) protect YOU because
``(A) is primarily designed or produced for the purpose of circumventing a technological measure that effectively controls access to a work protected under this title;
``(B) has only limited commercially significant purpose oruse other than to circumvent atechnological measure that effectively controls access to a work protected under this title
Furthermore, section 3) paragraph (A) States,
``(A) to `circumvent a technological measure' means to descramble a scrambled work, to decrypt an encrypted work, or otherwise to avoid, bypass, remove, deactivate, or impair a tech-
nological measure, without the authority of the copyright owner;
Does this device actually descramble or decrypt anything? Dont they put copy protection on their roms?
By using those two statements in section 2, they are implying the only commercial use of this device is to copy ROMs. The defense is that the device is intended to allow a would-be game programmer to program a flash device and develop his/her own games for the GBA. I believe in the USA you are guilty until proven innocent. This means the burden of proof that this device has no other commercial use is upon NOA. Either they prove it or they shut the fsck up.
On the other hand, money buys politicians. Good Luck, you'll need it against them arseholes!
-- this space for rent --
Slashbots are the same people who, one minute yell "MPAA is Evil!" and then the next minute say "Ooh, let's go see Lord of the Rings."
Their letter doesn't explain what "technological measure" your product circumvents. After reading a description of the product, I am sceptical that there is any technological measure at all, so this doesn't look like a violation of 1201(b). At the end of the letter, they ask you to contact them if you have questions. It might be useful to get their clarification on what "technological measure" has been circumvented.
They also use the word "infringe" which implies that in addition to a DMCA violation, there is also a copyright infringement. But the letter doesn't explain. It sounds like Nintendo lawyers are making things up as they go along.
This isn't US Customs' job. If US Customs is spending my tax money hiring lawyers to research things on behalf of private corporations such as Nintendo, then I want my tax money back.
As copyright owner of this comment, I authorize everyone to defeat any technological measure which limits access to it.
Surely there must be a distinction between owning equipment that has the potential to be used for copyright infringement and actually using it for illegal purposes. CD burners, floppy drives etc are legal so I can't see why this product can't be legal too.
Unfortunately I don't think it's going to be a case of who's right and who's wrong but rather Nintendo has a bigger legal budget than ZD.
Personally, I think Nintendo is being NICE by not dragging him straight into court and destroying his life right off the bat. You dont get many chances like that in life these days.
Look on the lower left of this site:
http://www.visoly.com/
This is the developer's site of the product in question, and right on the same page it links to a page on various Nintendo Emulators. Anything that could have implied "developer's tool" flew out the window just by having that link there. It'll be really tough for them to prove it's not a device intended for piracy.
There *is* a legal product out there for uninitiated developers out there. Check out this page:
http://www.mp3games.net/demo.htm
Basically, this is a product you can buy at Software Etc that allows you to write programs for the GBA and download them into a little cartridge. This device claims it won't play 'copyrighted games'. Once you write apps for the GBA, you can trade them on the net etc. To the best of my knowledge, it's still for sale. I don't think Nintendo is fighting this one because it's clearly a developer's device.
I'm against the DMCA, I think it's poorly executed. I've been very vocal about that here. But this is a case where I think Nintendo is in the right. If this product did have legit uses, it was VERY BONEHEADED to link to an emulator's site on the product page. I'm with Nintendo on this one.
"Derp de derp."
If flash linkers are banned under the DCMA, a lot of nifty applications for the game boy advance go straight out the window. Most notably, the Advance turns out to be a rather good e-book platform (see http://www.mqp.com/fun/gb.htm ). With a 128MB flash cartridge and a flash linker it could hold 200+ titles at one time while being considerably cheaper than the equivalent PalmOS solution.
If flashing and development by hackers continued a considerable number of similar apps might have been developed.
Most law firms do handls a certian amount of pro-bono per year. You might have to call them your self and ask.
of course the first place to start is the eff. If nothing else, they might be able to point you in the right direction.
The Kruger Dunning explains most post on
It seems to me that this is an instance of a more general problem -- all software and equipment which end-users can use to create/distribute their own media (music/video/games/whatever) can also be used to create/distribute unauthorized copies of "mainstream" media.
And, in fact, that is indeed invariably their primary use. Artists/writers/programmers are always going to be a minority.
These things are increasingly being legislated and prosecuted accordingly. Independent content/media/software creators are going to get very screwed, and our cultural development will be ceded entirely to corporations.
While this might not be the primary intended effect, I'm sure the aforementioned conglomerates don't really mind it as a side-effect.
The only defense I can see is to create a body of "libre" independent content that most people will actually care about, so there would be some outcry when it was threatened. "mainline" indy media is unfortunately too esoteric most of the time.
That would, however, most likely require a source of patronage outside the media conglomerates. I don't see e.g. an animated feature being assembled in the same way as the Linux kernel.
DNA just wants to be free...
http://www.hrrc.org/html/DMCA-leg-hist.html
DMCA history website.
http://www.loc.gov/copyright/
US Copyright office.
http://www.loc.gov/copyright/legislation/dmca.p
DMCA summary & analysis
Section 1201 of the DMCA is basically the anticircumvention stuff. It makes a distinction between devices that allow illegal access to copyrighted material and devices that make illegal copies of copyrighted material. The legal question here is, is this doodad a circumvention device? Does it illegally circumvent some encryption of the ROM data on the GBA cart? If not then it's an issue of, is this a fair use case of copying?
It Is the Nature of Information to Transgress Artificial Boundaries
...and I use it legitimately. There's a GNU GBA C compiler and tools available and it's fun to develop simple games for it. Of course I can't sell anything I produce, but the amateur GBA developer scene is very active and I can't see how it harms Nintendo in any way. Quite the opposite in fact; I wouldn't have bought a GBA if I couldn't program it. Checkout http://www.gbadev.org for more about the GBA amateur developer scene.
While the flash linker can be used for piracy, this case is exactly the same as the one reported here earlier about the Dreamcast-PC serial cable. Just because it could be used for piracy doesn't mean it is.
Having said all that, I can see why Nintendo are going after this kit - GBA roms are easy to find on the net and are small enough that even the slowest modem connection can download them.
Nintendo are very different from companies like Sony and Microsoft in that they keep tight control of the content of any software developed for their hardware through draconian licences. They see their consoles as being aimed primarily at younger children and try to discourage development of 'adult' titles. Sites like http://foon.pocketheaven.com/ that carry unlicenced software weaken their position so, while being legal, their position is precarious. As a flash linker is required to get the software from unlicenced developers onto the GBA, it's no surprise that this is where Nintendo's attack lawyers would concentrate their efforts. The DMCA just makes them an even more tempting target.
--
Input error. Replace user and press any key to continue.
Input error. Replace user and press any key to continue.
You don't speak for everyone here, bud. Those devices are blatent rom copiers so people can download and trade them with each other illegally. Yes, you can come up with a few legit reasons to use them, but quit fooling yourself if you think anyone is going to believe that. I'm totally behind NOA on stuff like this. I buy every game I want for my PC, PS, GBA, and Gamecube.
What the fuck is the DCMA when its at home?
I agree with one previous poster. Regardless of the DCMA or not, selling such a device that essentially destroys all the work of the many people to put the GBA games, is really rubbing their face in it.
Emulating their games, making mods and making catridges is one thing, but actually providing the means to copy their games at a fraction of the cost and to most likely sell then only ruins the profitability of making GBA's in the first place. Without Nintendo to develop, test, and market the GBA hardware, you would have nothing. Stop trying to live on their design and pretend to be under the open source umbrella.
I fully support the sharing of intellectual property for non-profit use (the open-source thing remember). But using someone elses hard work to make yourself a tidy profit is insulting
to the open source community, to Nintendo and to all developpers.
just my $2/100
If Nintendo is suing hime for illegally distributing the FAL, why isn't he suing the U.S Customs for allowing the FAL to get through since it is apparently, as Nintendo sees it, a violation of the DMCA?
This is to be able to play Nintendo games under emulators on PCs, PDAs, and other machines, right? Now, correct me if I'm wrong, but:
1. Game ROMs for every Nintendo game under the sun are already on the net for download. Anyone who just wants the ROM for a game doesn't need this device.
2. Therefore anyone who would want one of these likely buys (i.e. owns) the cartridges themselves and is trying to "do the right thing" by Nintendo.
3. The game console is usually a loss-leader to sell the games.
So it seems to me that Nintendo's financial situation is actually improved by this device, since console (sold at a loss) sales can be cut back while game sales continue unabated, played on PDAs and PCs?
Where's the harm? It seems like Nintendo should continue to go after all of the ROM pirates already out there, but encourage sale of this device, since it requires that the user buy the cartridges in order to be useful. Am I missing something really obvious, or is this just a company shooting themselves in the foot because they're so orgasmic about intellectual property rights?
STOP . AMERICA . NOW
Please give me one legit reason to use these devices that is believable other than pirating GBA games. You and I both know your reason will be complete BS. This isn't like MP3s where people can make backups of their music and move it around to different systems. No one does that with their GBA. This is to trade and pirate the software. Saying otherwise insults us all.
Yes, I could. And many people have noted that fact, and are continually attempting to infringe on my second amendment (god-given, if you prefer) right to bear arms, for the defense of myself and the country. Bad analogy, right idea. I've always thought textbooks and pencils should be banned from schools - ever been hit over the head with a textbook? Or stabbed with a pencil? Right.
--C
Look ma, I'm a
Attn: Anti-Piracy Group
4820 150th Ave. NE
Redmond, WA 98052
Telephone: 425-861-2187
Fax: 425-882-3585
E-mail: Noalegal@noa.nintendo.com
Is Redmond, WA really the source of all the evil in the world ?
<TROLL>Osama, if you're still alive and still want to play with bioweapon, start there !</TROLL>
The cartridges are around $100 dollars each, but one 64Mbit Flash cartridge comes with the Flash Linker.
At first I thought that if NOA got $10/cart royalty maybe this whole thing could be made legit - then I realized you'd really only need one cartridge (or at most one of each "size") since you're storing the ROM images on your PC. It just a little PITA to have to connect to the PC every time you want to play a different game.
Can't say I blame NOA for getting pissed about this.
IANAL but I would respond
1) Make the good faith claim that to you knowledge this device does not violate the DMCA, and they therefore have no rights to make their further claims. Demand that they prove other wise, under threat of perjury.
2) That reverse engineering this device would constitue a breach of DMCA. So they cannot prove other wise.
3) The threat constitues and illegal restraint of trade, and inform them that you will counter-sue.
4) Clearly state that further investigation on their behalf will result in an invoice for T&M for investigation of their claims.
"ideal for development studios and hobby programmers" ...
:
... why not ? That was its intended purpose anyway.
and the proof of that
http://www.visoly.com/demo.php
the DMCA used for squashing competition
can anyone please stop this ? these demos rule.
a couple of years ago when he realised he still only owned the second biggest software company in Redmond. (Game Over, David Sheff)
GM claims that Goodyear violated the DMCA
by designing tires to run on its vehicles.
They are sueing for 3billion dollars claiming
that Goodyear used illegal practices to gain
information for the design of their tires.
Each cart you see on a GBA game (And any other NOA cart based system) is licensed from NOA. They all contain a special chip that recognises it to the system its being played on. This means, any non-licensed cart that is put in a GBA (Or any other Nintendo system) is not an original copy of the game, and is bypassing their security in some aspect. Unless these carts are licensed by Nintendo, which I doubt they are, this is completely illegal. This is why Nintendo has stuck with carts for so long. They get to control every aspect of the medium.
I'm a bit of a rabid video game fanatic. When all is said and one I have 10 consoles and hand-held systems lying around the house, as well as quite a few games for each. I also tend to be a big fan of Nintendo and their work (I have every one of their systems, including a Virtual Boy). I'm forcing myself to hold out on getting a GameCube until Metroid Prime came out. Or at least I was.
I can't begin to describe how utterly wrong this is to me. I mean, the Sklyarov bit was one thing, but this... this is a cornerstone of the EMU community! This IS the EMU community! It is also an example of everything that is good and right in the EMU community. Other than the emulators themselves, there is NO copyrighted material at zophar.net, not even PSX BIOS images. Their efforts support coding afficionados (both emulator and public domain game writers) and nostaligic gamers alike, giving them an opportunity to explore their passions that they otherwise wouldn't have. They also fill the gaps that publishers leave by hosting translation patches for ROM images, in more languages than you can shake a stick at. In my opinion this is tantamount to Lockheed-Martin suing the Smithsonian Air & Space Museum.
The defense of ZD in their efforts to both support themselves monetarily (more-or-less on a non-profit level) and to support video game fans in execrizing their Fair Use rights with their legally-owned software in my opinion comes before my personal addiction to video games. I want to help ZD in some way, and seeing as how I don't have a law degree all I can do is donate what money I might have spent on video games to the cause of getting ZD a good lawyer. And I think anybody who's ever used ZD at one point or another should consider doing this.
So if Swampgas would be so kind as to set up a PayPal donation button or something of the kind, I'll gladly start by sending him the $200 I would have otherwise spent on a GameCube.
Where does the law allow Nintendo to make this demand?
Give me all your money now.
There. I've just made a demand of you. Where in the law does it say I'm not allowed to do this? Likewise, there's no law that keeps you from telling me to take a flying leap.
I blame Lev
Most comments seem to be talking about backing up games and/or pirating games. Personally I'd be interested in a GBA flash setup so I could view productions from the burgeoning demoscene. http://www.pouet.net/prodlist.php?type=&platform=G ameboy+Advance&x=18&y=7
The Gamestop connected to a Barnes & Noble near where I live sells something that sounds like this.
It says "Download games for free from the internet and play them on your Gameboy!" It also had a cartridge slot on it to presumably dump a game.
I wonder if they still have it. Its been about a month.
Every game on the GBA needs to be licensed to Nintendo through one of their own cartridges. They control all carts that every game is on for piracy sake. If its not on their cart, it aint legit, and you cant sell it legally for their system. You need to be a registered developer for Nintendo, as well as get their approval and cart for your game before it can be distributed legally.
Now you know why they stayed with Carts for so long. They make TONS of money off this by controlling the medium. People comparing this to CDRs are just ignorant of how NOA uses carts and licenses them out to game publishers.
almost the same thing happened with the Flash Linker for the gameboy color (then called the Gameboy Exchanger or GBX). However, Nintendo went after the manufacturer: Bung Enterprises. Bung had even sponsered a contest or two for amature gameboy color programmers to make homebrew games, it was a nice success; about 20-30 entries were made. Unfortunately, big N managed to win against them, and they no longer made any more GBX's. There were clones out there, but from what I always heard, Bung's was the best.
So, lo and behold, the GBA comes out, and the GBX reappears but with a different name and compatable with the new system (I'm unsure of the manufacturer). The device itself looks identical to the old GBX, and appears to work the same way, via the parallel port, with 6 AAA's or a power adapter. The only difference I saw was color and name. And for the record, I dont own a Flash Linker Advance, but I do own a GBX, so I saw this happen a few years ago, and I've always sort of figured this would happen to the GBA, it was just a matter of time.
So, I guess what I was getting at, is that there is a sort of a presedence for this, but not exactly. Nintendo had gone after the manufacturer, not the retailers. Maybe they thought it would be easier this time around to go after the small retailers in the US rather than the big manufacturers overseas. Unfortunately, if they have customs on their side, they just might be right.
The case against DeCSS succeeded because MPAA convinced the judge that the possibility of piracy and the potential loss of revenue was more important than the rights of the small community who wanted to use the software legally. Is this any different?
Nintendo will claim the DeCSS case as a precedent, saying it allows people to pirate their games. The users will claim it's fair use. Who's going to win?
Nintendo.
-- If god wanted me to have a sig, he'd have given me a sense of humor.
People:
If you want to help this guy out buy something from his store. In my case I own a gamecube and plan on getting a GBA; I was planning on getting a GBA-to-GameCube cable later, but I mine as well get one now. Also, those VGA-to-GameCube adapters look nice too...
Depends on where you live. Remember, in the UK guns are outlawed for precisely this reason.
To rehash the old argument: You're right about crowbars, because crowbars are intended to be used for opening things, and that's still their primary use. However, when a tool's intended and primary purpose is to commit illegal acts, its legality becomes dubious.
In the USA, the argument goes that guns' primary use is for self-defense and hunting, so they should be legal. In the UK, that doesn't hold up. In the case of the Flash Advance, its primary purpose is to duplicate licensed GBA games from your friends or play downloaded ROMs from the Internet. That puts it in the "dubious" category.
Frankly, I have little sympathy for Zophar's Domain. They should have seen this coming.
Food for thought:
There's this game that lawyers play called "See What We Can Get Out of Them". This letter is the first round of this game. During this round, lawyer does a very small amount of data collection to see if there's a posssibility of a lawsuit. Lawyer then sends nasty sounding letter to the evil person supposedly violating whatever laws demanding as many outlandish things as possible.
This first round makes receiver of letter feel uncomfortable, and most law-abiding citizens feel obligated to cough up their gonads right then and there for fear of being prosecuted/embroiled in controversy. This part is psychological and more for shock effect and seeing what Lawyer can get out of you.
I work with a lawyer on a daily basis. Said lawyer does this kind of crap just for fun to see how much said lawyer can get away with. People will do anything not to be sued, etc. and it seems that lawyers just like to watch people squirm.
I do believe that NOA has no right to ask you for the merchandise without a judgement of some kind. Quoting the DMCA is great and all, but there hasn't been litigation of any kind and they can't make up terms for your innocence/guilt. You haven't been charged with anything, this isn't a case that's gone to court yet.
Good luck.
Linking to an emulator site in and of itself isn't grounds for considering this thing to be a piracy device. You could point to other emulators used in the development of software for handhelds for an example. The POSE emulator, which emulates the Palm platform, was actually embraced by Palm and promoted as a way to easily develop software for the platform without having to go through the trouble of downloading to a deveice. Considering, from a description of this device, that it takes several minutes to download a ROM to the Gameboy, it seems logical that a developer would want ot use the quick turnaround of using an emulator instead. I expect that Nintendo's (and whoever else makes games for the platform) engineers use emulators extensively while developing new products.
That being said, the people selling this thing are probably still screwed, since it's likely Nintendo can claim that somewhere in their product is some obfuscation (like an undocumented pinout on the cartridges) that qualifies as a copy protection method that this unit circumvents. As you say, the law sucks, but it's still a law until struck down or repealed.
Okay--we need to hear from /. readers who actually ARE lawyers. In particular, we need to hear from geek lawyers who are familiar with federal regulations, how they are formulated, and what is the precise legal meaning of "ruling."
This letter from Nintendo is a threat. Find a small business, threaten them with the wrath of God, watch them roll over. But--the threat has to be credible. The premise of the threat from Nintendo is contained in the second paragraph of the letter:
The key question here is, what ruling was made by the U.S. Customs Service on December 20, 2001? Was this a ruling in a judicial proceeding? If so, does the U.S. Customs Service have the ability to conduct judicial proceedings that are binding on other jurisdictions? (I seem to recall that Admiralty courts in the U.S. are conducted by the U.S. Customs Service. But the DMCA and its application to a game cartridge emulator would seem to be outside the purview of an Admiralty court.)
Or was the "ruling" akin to the "private letter rulings" issued by the Internal Revenue Service, which are used to advise tax professionals of the IRS's view of the legality of a given strategy or vehicle. In other words, did Nintendo of America go to a U.S. Customs Service office, present some documentation asserting that the Flash Advance Linker could be used to illegally copy Gameboy cartridges, and thus (they argued) it violates the DMCA. If it is the latter, I would think the threat from Nintendo carries a lot less force--they got somebody to agree with their view of the situation. That's not the same thing as having as precendent a settled issue of law. (For contrast: if you get a letter from the local Temperance Union insisting that you cease and desist from the manufacture, transportation, distribution, and/or sale of beer--because you're in a "dry" county--you're in a different fight. Temperance rules may seem silly, but they're a settled legal issue.)
If the DMCA is to be challenged, these guys need help
A common legal tactic is to establish a court precendent someplace, and then extend that precendent across the country. I learned this the hard way, early in my career, when the Internal Revenue Service decided to make an example of my employer at the time (Presbyterian and Reformed Publishing Co. v. Commissioner of Internal Revenue, 743 F.2d 148 (3rd Cir. 1984).). We won--but only because of substantial financial and legal support from other (larger) publishing houses that stood to be hurt down the road. Almost twenty years ago I was hustling contributions to a legal defense fund of more than $50K--today it would require much, much more than that.
There is an alternative...
You generally cannot intervene in a private lawsuit. And Nintendo is almost certainly assuming that this store isn't going to go all the way to court over this. But you can ask your Congressman to "look into this" and report back to you on the merit of foreign software corporations using the DMCA to prevent U.S. software developers from writing software for a popular computing platform. With enough publicity, and enough questions from Congress, Nintendo might be persuaded to back off.
zophar's domain was an emu site LONG before gba flash linkers even existed. They just recently started up the zd store to help pay for bandwith expenses caused by being a major emu site. No real profit is being made here; it is unlikely that their weak sales even let the site break even.
"Never, never suspect the dreams within the dreams of dreaming children." ~The Amazon Quartet
IANAL.... but I was employed by ZTnet (hosting Zophar's domain and many other emulator sites) as Director of New Business (hehe a .com business title if you ever heard one) around three years ago when there were other troubles with Nintendo .UltraHLE was hosted on ZTnet and at the time of the release I was one of the few people who actually knew who the author was. Nintendo obviously blew some steam but what we found to work the best was to ignore them. If they served us we would do something but cease and desist letters are pretty much a scare tactic. Sam, My advice is just wait it out.
Dont get all these
M.S. Clippy
All bow to his Noodliness!! His Noodle Appendage has touched me!
Of course, many times they are full of posts from such high class individuals that simply post 'anti-posts' because they both have no real life or existence, and that they are too stupid to figure out that they themselves could have merely posted the requested information.
Hey buddy, don't ever write any search engines please... I can just imagine the results of any query that a user would submit. Probably being a smart ass pig fucker that tells them they should look elsewhere.
Or perhaps it is that too many in the world actually have work to do, and don't have the free time to endlessly wade through endless web sites that contain crap, but where indexed as containing the content the user wanted.
Almost twenty years ago I found out how to tweak my 300baud (when bps==baud) Atari modem to operate at 450baud. I was ecstatic. I was also a felon.
Fifteen years ago I found out how to jumper RAM chips (not SIMMS, but chips) onto the existing ones on my Atari ST motherboard. I thought I was being ingenious and saving a buck. I was wrong. I was a felon.
Ten years ago I purchased a DOS Compatibility card for an Apple Performa with a PDS slot. I only had a Quadra, which didn't accept the card. I pulled the card apart, lengthened the slot cover, and installed it and the rigged software into my Q650. I thought I was being clever. I was wrong. I was a felon.
One of my computers once had an easily replaceable oscillator. I found out from a newsgroup that I could buy a part from Radio Shack and solder it to the old chip and increase the speed of my machine. I discovered a world of electronics that I never knew existed. Thus my descent into lawlessness. I thought that I was learning. I was wrong. I was a felon.
I purchased an ISA Zoran based television card for my PC from a refurb equipment seller. Under Windows ME it would crash. I resurrected it under a Linux PC. I thought I was helping the environment by not adding to the landfills. I was wrong. I was a felon.
I've watched DVDs under Linux, copied my LP and CD music collection to MP3s, installed illegal operating systems to a Dreamcast, used nmap...
Yesterday I used a hammer to chip away the concrete around a drainpipe instead of its intended usage on nails. I am not proud.
Likewise, there's no law that keeps you from telling me to take a flying leap.
Not from the US are you? If I tell someone to take a flying leap, and they do, I can be dragged into court for a _very_ long time.
Gaming as serious business
= ar ticle&articleid=CA193186&pubdate=2-7-02
l .
Snicker about playing games at work, but the low cost, appropriate features, and availability of Gameboy resources might change your mind about using it as a nongaming, handheld terminal.
http://www.e-insite.net/ednmag/index.asp?layout
Reverse-engineering
One of the challenges of success is that other people will attempt to reverse-engineer your design for their own ends, despite your efforts to the contrary. Although an emulator is a powerful development tool and the ability to make safeguard copies of programs you have purchased is legitimate, the availability of these two capabilities have meant potential loss of revenue for Nintendo because people can avoid buying a Gameboy and cartridges to play games. Nintendo has successfully shut down some companies that sold products that have little apparent value except to permit someone to access, copy, and play games without purchasing a proper license. The Gameboy Advanced has the ability to copy a program from one device to another without using a cartridge in the other Gameboy Advanced, and that fact may explain the reluctance to share the game-link-interface specifications. The Gameboy Color, which this project used, does not support this capability, but, as projects on the Web show, a little information can result in many unintended uses of a narrowly defined product (References A, B, C, and D).
Not all reverse-engineering efforts have negative results for a company. Lego Mindstorms, which incorporates microprocessors, sensors, and motors into Lego bricks may have actually benefited from reverse-engineering activities (Reference E). Engineers, researchers, and hobbyists reverse-engineered the firmware, created new programming tools, and developed unintended ways of connecting the systems to the world. Rather than pursuing legal action to squelch this activity, the company has made available internal documentation for its firmware, sponsored conferences discussing theory and applications, and includes links to independent development tools on its own Web pages. Don't expect this kind of support if you try to produce blocks that interlock with Legos.
References
A. Gameboy and Gameboy Advanced Development Web Rings, http://d.webring.com/hub?ring=gameboydev and http://c.webring.com/hub?ring=thegameboyadvanc.
B. Gatesboy, www.gatesboy.com.
C. Frohwein, Jeff, Gameboy and Gameboy Advanced, www.devrs.com.
D. Ziegler, Reiner, Gameboy and Gameboy Advanced, www.reinerziegler.de.
E. Wallich, Paul "Mindstorms: not just a kid's toy," IEEE Spectrum, September 2001, Volume 38, No. 9, www.spectrum.ieee.org/pubs/spectrum/0901/mind.htm
Quidquid latine dictum sit altum viditur
From my understanding, it is not really the DMCA that is being violated; DMCA is violated when you commit the act of copying / distribiting / whatever; however, nintendo does not allow for "personal backups" expressively in their game license agreement. (i dont have my game manual here so can't copy it verbatim -- but somebody out there must be able to)
so in the end, if this hit the courts, i believe there is a stronger footing than the modchip trial a while ago -- because there is a larger legit userbase out there, and I do not believe that userbase to be "marginal" as the legit users of the mod chip arena.
but hey watch out, nintendo has got $$ and they get their lawyers for free (almost); and we all know lawyer + $$ can bend, if not change altogether, the legal system.
/. clearly needs a new symbol. Call it the "!Freedom" department.
The picture would be a copy of the Constitution with a pile of shit on top of it, just below someone wiping his ass with hundred dollar bills.
Best. Comment. Ever. Enjoy!
It seems to me that we hackers should be able to build a program / web page / catridge rom that can be copied by the GameBoy. Then we could sue Nintendo for DMCA violation... I bet this approach would work to get the DMCA repealed, and make a lot of money besides! We need to make it in some corporations best interest to get the DMCA repealed...
while (sig==sig) sig=!sig;
Include NAACP and LULAC here... if they had any integrity at all, they would immediately disolve themselves and focus on the real issues.
Zophar's Domain and emulation sites in general have a long and vibrant history of kind of stuff. See the letter that caused NOA to check this site here.
It is important to note that the person who wrote the letter very likely had a reason to be angry at them, however; Zophar's Domain doesn't exactly have a saintly record. They're the same people who ratted to Sony on competing emulation sites who were serving BIOS images, when Zophar's Domain was serving the exact same images themselves, for example.
Reproduced below for your reading pleasure is the text of the letter sent to NOA (note that the signature at the very bottom is from the letter; it's not mine):
Subj: Sales of illegal copier units
Date: 2/12/02 6:58:47 PM Pacific Standard Time
From: cultchyldren@aol.com
To: piracyscene@noa.nintendo.com
Dear NOA Legal:
During my searches to find LEGAL NOA distributers and local stores, I stumbled onto a very disturbing piracy site. It can be found at: http://www.zophar.net/. It is a site that has illegal emulators on it, but the most disturbing part is that they use the illegal emulators to draw in people to buy illegal copier units for the Gameboy Advance system.
I thought that I should inform you that people were making dishonest money from your products, and should be looked into quickly. These people should be shown that stealing is wrong. If you need a direct url to the problem, it can be found at: http://www.zophar.net/store/items.phtml?gba-acc
Thank you for your time,
Seashell Gray
---
"Try not to be freaked out about the stock price. The world is pretty messed up." - Trip Hawkins
Argh! This is so stupid!
I have a flash advance linker (purchased from HK). I use it to test my ARM apps to see how they will play out on my GBA.
Yes you could copy some games, it says that (for backup purposes). Most of the recent ones won't work though (I own about 15 games, of them only 3 work if copied down and back)
Also the blank cartridges are expensive! way more expensive then the games, making it not profitable to sell the games as pirates to people. About the only thing I could see is if people downloaded cracked roms off the net and uploaded to play on the GBA rather then use an emulator.
why people are joining Al qaida!
...that someone might want to buy a video game for the GBA, load it onto his computer, and play it on his big monitor, with emulator features like saving and restoring multiple states at any time. Or to have a backup and working platform to show his kids 30 years later, long after his GBA is lost or broken.
And that's ignoring, for the moment, that an emulator is the cross-platform developer's #2 special-purpose tool, after his cross-compiler.
If they linked ROMZ sites, that would be boneheaded.
In general, modern problems have medieval solutions...
If those devices violate DMCA, then even if Nintendo has them, they still violate the act. I'm afraid their request doesn't completely make sense.
IMHO, DMCA or not, these products only have one use (Anyone who says they're for making 'backups' can kiss my ass).
They're for use in Piracy, pure and simple - and in the end, Nintendo have the legal right to be paid for their intellectual property, like it or not.
You can try to look around this point all you like but in then end you've got to admit that. It's very convenient to try to look at this with rose-tinted glasses, I bet when most people are saying is "great, no more free gameboy games".
It's just a shame that a sensible legal test can't exist for this, rather than the DMCA.
doesnt make sense to me
He obvioulsy needed to do more advertising, I would of bought one long ago if I'd known it existed. Still might if I get the chance. I don't see how this is any different than the gba lighting kit I've seen on /. before.
-Mark
I assume that since it is their product, the GBA, then they get to determine who is a developer, and who is not.
Regardless of being able to make ROM's, or anything else, it is in Nintendo's best interest to not have a bunch of crappy games floating around "for the GBA" that they did give permission for.
Also, it was determined in December that this item, the un-official developer kit for the GBA, was in violation of the DMCA, yet Nintendo is just now sending out cease and desist orders? Seems a litte slow, I would figure that they would just do a google search for the product in question with the word "buy" and that would get most of them.
Dear Mr Michaels,
Get a grip. This is just a letter. Letters cost about a dollar to reproduce and send. They are typically used as intimidation techniques by lawyers when they know they don't have a legal leg to stand on.
If they file, then it means they're a bit more serious, but not much. Again, these filing is cheap, and often gets people to do what lawyers want even though they really don't have the legal right to demand it.
This is what you should do. Send them back a nice letter stating that the DCMA doesn't apply because these devices are not being used "solely for copyright circumvention" - they are being used for hobby gaming. This does two things. First, it states your legal position; they cannot claim you ignored the letter. Second, and more importantly, you are signal your willingness to actually fight this bullshit.
Believe me when I say that Corporate lawyers strongly recommend against suing a "little guy" on anything but a clear-cut case. Even if they win, it can do havok with their P.R., and it will cost them way way more money to pursue than they ever could recover.
Remember, because this isn't a contractual issue so there is no "looser pays in a legal dispute" clause to deal with. If they actually seriously pursue litigation, they're on the hook for their own legal fees, which makes it not worth it even if they do win.
Disclaimer - I am Not a Lawyer; however, I have used their services from time to time.
"I'm sorry Nintendo, but I just sold my last one today..."
eBay time.
There is a point, please read the whole thing...
From reading the basic decription of the product. I have summized that not only does it violate the DCMA, it may also violate standard copyright law.
I also must agree with several posters that state the same thing regarding the designed use of CD-R/RW drives and the latest DVD Burners. Of course, this may also be loosely applied to floppy disk drives. All of the devices mentioned in this paragraph resemble the intended function of the device from this article.
In most cases, everyone is stating how patently absurd this DMCA law is. However, it is law. Laws exist until they are challenged, in court and found to be incapable of being upheld in a court of law.
So, what I propse is a simple use of the DMCA, to utterly cause its own destruction. This is basically what needs to be done.
Any programmer out there, music band or other group please read and consider this statement.
Create a program or application and provide this upon CD or DVD. Make sure that this is a professionally generated CD. This can be expensive, but can be worth it.
Once you have this application CD out there. Simply open up a case against the manufacturers of all CD-RW and DVD Burners in the US. Make the claim that they are violating the DMCA since your application, which was meant to only be distributed on your CDs, can now be digitally copied. Make certain that this claim can be backed up as violating the encryption or other form of protection that you have used with your application.
Send forth a letter to each of those companies, demanding that they cease and desist with the design and manufacture of said devices and to ship all of those devices to you, for proper destruction.
Either one of two things will happen. It will be upheld in a court of law and most of us will now be outlaws with our "illegal" CD duplication devices, or those same companies will push the case to the Supreme Court which will simply toss out the DMCA.
Any takers? I would do it. However, I can barely code myself out of a box, or into one, for that matter.
Of course, it might not be that simple. Please feel free to add to this statement. This might be the only way to get rid of such a patently insipid law.
--
.sig seperator
--
If you ignore the other uses of a tool, does that make the tool less useful, or you less useful?
We should all rally togeather to get rid of this act, it seems to hinder more then it helps. (Well it helps the big corps, but it hurts us consumers)
Exactly. This guy has a store, and he's running a business. Legal expenses are part of the cost of doing business. I'm a lawyer; that's my business, and I should get paid for my time. While I agree that I should devote some of my time to pro bono matters (everyone is entitled to legal help, some people can't afford it, I make a good living and should give something back, blah blah), businessmen are not the usual or intended recipients of pro bono legal advice. Does he get pro bono accounting work also? How about sales clerks, do they work for free? Cripes, if you want business favors, do what everyone else does and suck up to your local Republican politicians.
the packages come in from Asia labeled as "gift." the shipper applies that label to the document for shipping and customs. when i ordered mine, i didn't tell the shipper how to label it - they knew what it would take to get it past customs and did as such: item="gift", value="under $30 USD". i had no hand in the labeling.
also - i do not see on his sight where he talks about labeling used during shipping - provide that link. all i see is the letter from Nintendo.
thanks!
/* Half alive and half dead too, work is for suckers and the sucker is you. - "Half-life" by Local H*/
I was offered one of the devices a few months ago by a friend who regularly commultes between London and the Far East. As a big GBA fan (apart from the screen) I was interested as this seemed to offer me a way to play a number of the games I own without having to carry all the cartridgees on long distance flights etc. However, the cost for a four cartridge version ($160) seemed to be the same as the four cartridges themselves, a heavy premium to pay for portability.
On expressing my concern he explained that were a high number of sites where I could download game ROMS to the device from the internet, a list of which would normally be supplied with the device. Basically, I would be able to download hundreds of games and play four for free at any one time.
I turned down the offer at this point. I personally feel that game boy advance games are way overpriced, as is Microsoft software. However, as is the case with MS Software, the terms on which it is purchased are clearly understood at the point of purchase. Microsoft may also have more complex tectics, which involve giving away some products, e.g. Internet Explorer which must have cost many millions to develop, in order to dominate a larger marketplace, i.e. the Internet.
Nintendo are clear about what they want to do, namely develop games to a clear policy (i.e. generally friendly to small children with limited fighting and gore), and sell them at a profit with control over price and distribution.
The choice for the consumer is clear, do I buy into this or not?. It has been clear since the days of Nintendo's 16 bit machines, with very few, if any , fighting games being ported to these consoles. As a parent of small children, I appreciate a company who are going to so explicitly state their gouidelines at the outset, so I can make my own choices about purchasing their products.
This device may be used to circumvent this policy to allow developer to develop their own games for the GBA, but 99% of the market has to be to copy other's games. This cannot be the way forward, we should never encourage the critisism of Microsoft to be directed to bypassing security in Windows XP, but into develping alternatives. Equallly, using the DCMA against this product may be wrong, but products which promote piracy of commercial software do not encourage people to act against the right targets.
Enough well intentioned (I HOPE) rant for now...
you would think, right? i have no idea. we wonder how this all works ourselves.
we have had 3 sent to our office, all from the same place in Hong Kong, all within the last 3 months. i would assume these places doing the shipping are sending hundreds daily through customs.
the hows and whys of customs inspections is something i would love to understand.
/* Half alive and half dead too, work is for suckers and the sucker is you. - "Half-life" by Local H*/
I have every GBA currently released that's almost 278...I have not paid a dime for any of them directly.
I bought the GBA linker and now the bridge(for GBC and GB) which brings my total to over 500 games I didn't pay for!!!
I also develop games as well, so I am using it for some legal usage...
There *is* a legal product out there for uninitiated developers out there. Check out this page:
http://www.mp3games.net/demo.htm
Basically, this is a product you can buy at Software Etc that allows you to write programs for the GBA and download them into a little cartridge. This device claims it won't play 'copyrighted games'.
This product was pulled from our store roughly a month ago. Primarily because a) it is WAY easy to make the device play copyrighted games; b) the device offers NO development tools, and c) the demo games that were available on the site were no good. I was psyched when I saw it in the store at first, but then I went home and checked the user message boards for the real deal.
"Why Subscribe?" Good question...
How to read Slashdot with IE and still avoid dickhead wide page trolls:
1. Download and install The Proxomitron (http://proxomitron.org/).
2. Add the following text to the [Patterns] section of your Proxomitron configuration text file:
Name = "Slashdot Wide Page Troll Stopper"
Active = TRUE
URL = "slashdot.org"
Limit = 8192
Match = "(.\w\s)+{50,*}"
Replace = "<b> [PAGE WIDENER KILLED] </b>"
3. Save those changes, and reload the config file.
4. Laugh at the silly wide page trolls.
Dear Nintedo Lawyer Dude
Blow me !
PS- Please sue me, I will counter sue on anti competive grounds and Nintedo will finance my eary retirement.
Fascism should more properly be called corporatism, since it is the merger of state and corporate power - Benito Mussoli
Nintendo demands that you ... turn over your remaining stock to Nintendo.
What? Has Nintendo suddenly become part of US customs?!
Under copyright law, you can make backups. I guess it's the DMCA, because under DMCA, you can't circumvent any technical protection mechanisms (TPM). The question is -- are there copy protection measures here? Does failure to provide the necessary cables and software to do backups constitute a TPM under DMCA?
Post may contain irony: discontinue use if experiencing mood swings, nausea or elevated blood pressure.
Isn't it funny how many "Anti-Piracy" groups happen to be based in Redmond, WA? :-)
Why? To make illegal copies? no. To bypass any copyright laws? no. Because I want to make my OWN GBA games. An emulator is fine for testing on your PC how the game is coming along but there comes a time when you need to test on hardware.
1. I'm not a big company so I'm not able to get an SDK kit from Nintendo
2. I couldn't afford it if I was able to
3. I don't want to make games for the hardware. Just as a hobby. At most for people to download and play... you know.. to give them something to do with the emulator besides illegal roms.
You're a moron.
I think it is at least as likely that they are doing this because people could develop for the platform without going "through them", as it is that they would oppose this on any real "piracy" grounds, though I must admit to ignorance on their official stance on GBA development.
Myself, I decided to never touch their stuff after reading the classic paper The Expurgation of Maniac Mansion for the Nintendo Entertainment System.
Read it if you haven't already, it's hilarious.
Belief is the currency of delusion.
Give me your computer and all blank CD-R media you currently own, or I will report you to the authorities for copyright violation.
Whoops, if I wasn't merely making a point, I would have just committed blackmail or extortion (depending on the relevant "authorities"). Pairing a demand with a threat is illegal by default.
...stealing your property and putting you out of business. This usage of the term, "working with you" is trademarked by the Mafia. Perhaps they should be sued for trademark violation.
Or just use a real browser. It looks fine here, no IE.
IIRC back when I owned nintendo games before I got scammed by sega, I noticed in the fine print that Nintendo claims you are not allowed to make backups of their software. I would imagin that this would persist, and they will of course argue in court that fair use backups aren't necessary due to the reliability of their cartriges.
I think it's a good fight to pick, but I wouldn't want my ass on the line. Maybe someone should quickly code up a free mp3 player, and visualization program for this thing. And viola, fair use.
--Jimmy has fancy plans; and pants to match.
I was thinking about buying a GBA to make my bus rides to work a little less boring. Not anymore, Nintendo you just lost a customer. Good Job!
I've decided to mispell one or more words in all my correspondence. If you don't like it then don't read it.
You make some good points.
What used to be exploration and learning has turned into hacking and crime. What is this world coming to when it is illegal to understand how something works?
The Gov't and Big Business(TM) want to keep us all ignorant and easy to control. What better way than to prosecute all the people who figure out how the system works?!?!
That means I cannot sell you a text editor because that would be able to circumvent an exactable for strings or a disassembler (which comes with a compiler for your own use)?
that there is some law that you are to properly label packages entering customs or risk some retribution. i have no idea. we kinda all worried when we ordered ours - who is at risk? the buyer? the shipper? the manufacturer?
i can only guess that US Customs is over-worked and under-staffed. i would also assume that the flow of goods through customs increases each year. kinda a frightening prospect.
/* Half alive and half dead too, work is for suckers and the sucker is you. - "Half-life" by Local H*/
Solicit the opionions of random bubbleheads on slashdot!
Can someone clarify? So the only reason this letter got sent was because some inane person with too much time on their hands sent Nintendo a letter complaining about the Advance Linker?
This is a really simple one. Ignore the complaint until someone from a legal capacity contacts you. In fact, if you want, tell them that you want independantly certified justification for their reason for requesting you to remove the items. Until them, fuck them and keep selling it.
I've had record labels and other places complain to me about the DMCA based on a service I provide on the internet and the most I've ever done is call or email them with the response that I have no malicious intentions with what I am doing and that I will cease as soon as I am given a credible and independantly verified explanation for how I am violating any IP or copyright laws.
I have never ever had any problems after that and they have never followed through.
Sounds like Zophar had better return these to Nintendo...after he receives a check in the amount that he paid for them. I say screw Nintendo. They have such a big budget? Let THEM go after the people who made it in order to get re-imbursed. After all, Zophar paid for it fair and square, right? He didn't sneak it over the border, right?
Alright, I'm going to stop before I get on my soapbox and start spouting nonsense like DEATH TO THE DMCA! DEATH TO THE INFIDEL DMCA!
Useless opinions, worthless observations, and more!
No wide posts here, either.
If all this should have a reason, we would be the last to know.
I own a GBA and love it except (invader Zim voice) for its horrible horrible screen.
But one thing I noticed lately when I bought some games for it (notably, advance wars) that at the end of the manual there is now a "you may not copy this game for any reason, even backups" disclaimer on the last page. I don't have the verbiage here but if someone has a copy of advance wars post it.
Basically it says that backups are never needed, therefore you are in violation of copyright if you make a backup. Or something to that effect.
crap I wish I had it here. Someone look it up for me and post it would you?
S.
http://www.stepto.com
In copyright law, if I remember correctly: "You are allowed to make one backup copy of any copyrighted material you own." How is this confusing? By trying to stop people from doing this, it is actually Nintendo that is breaking the law. I support EFF, and I fully expect EFF to support you. Good luck, fight this. We're behind you 100%.
The email address was provided for you. Make use of it.
To: Noalegal@noa.nintendo.com
Subject: Digital Millennium Copyright Act abuse
Quoting the letter sent to Sam Michaels, posted on zophar.net and
mentioned now on Slashdot:
> Nintendo demands that you immediately cease the importation,
> distribution and sale of the Flash Advance Linker and turn over your
> remaining stock to Nintendo.
If you pursue this, I will never again buy Nintendo products, period.
It doesn't matter if you are right if US Customs and/or US marshals come out and sieze all the "contraband". And, Nintendo probably is going to claim "good faith" protection of their rights and throw a wall of lawyers at you, so going after them for damaging you is probably a waste of time. The most youll probably get at trial is the goods returned (after posting a bond to cover the cost of their storage for the five years it takes to get to trial).
These are precendents that can make you win the case if you can keep the DMCA out of this:
;)
[...] Over the years, the use of reverse engineering of software has been extremely controversial. In fact, there have been two major lawsuits concerning products that were written with the help of decompilation.
The first major lawsuit was Atari vs. Nintendo. In this case, Atari Corporation reverse engineered Nintendo's game cartridges in order to create alternative games that could run on Nintendo's system. The judge in this case found that decompilation was acceptable to figure out unprotected elements of the software. However, Atari lost the case because they used fraud to obtain Nintendo's source code from the Copyright Office [7].
The next major case, Sega vs. Accolade, created a much stronger precedent because there were no fraud issues involved. In a similar manner to Atari, Accolade reverse engineered Sega's Genesis technology to discover how to make games for their system. Accolade then created a book with the relevant (and non-protectable) elements of Sega's technology, and passed the book on to their developers. These developers created a new game, Ishido, to compete with Sega's games.
In deciding the case, the court looked at many factors (including public policy concerns). In the end, the judge decided that reverse engineering software for the sole purpose of creating a compatible package is an acceptable use (under the "fair use" doctrine). In addition, the appeals court stated: "[i]f disassembly of copyrighted object code is per se an unfair use, the owner of the copyright gains a de facto monopoly over the functional aspects of his work - aspects that were expressly denied copyright protection by congress" [1]. Thus, the court decided to adopt the policy encouraging competition (as opposed to IP protection) in the software industry.
This is blatantly stolen from Stanford. The guy should be able to argue that he is reverse engineering for fair use, especially since he's advertising programming the system and backing up savegames & games. Of course, the DMCA is created to take away your rights to fair use by disallowing any decrypting.
I'd call upon Nintendo to prove that the device doesn't merely reverse-engineer for fair use, but it truly circumvents an encryption device. This means that they have to prove that such an encryption device exists. But of course, IANAL. You should really get a lawyer to look at this and write a letter back. And you're in big sh*t if you find out that Nintendo uses an XOR-encryption scheme for it's code
The Drowned and the Saved - Primo Levi
I borrowed this book from, uhm, a friend of mine. And I, uh, read it. I was a really good book and all; but now I've got all that copyright material in my head and I'm paranoid they're gonna come and get me and confiscate my brain...
I really liked my brain. I'll be sad to see it go.
I issue a formal challenge to all slashdotters:
write an emulator which will run on the GBA while resident in one of these flash cartridges that will allow you to play NES or SNES roms on the GBA. I can't see why it couldn't be done. The processing power exceeds either of these systems, and the cartidges more than exceed the required space for any PC emulator and a handful of SNES ROMs.
of course, if anyone is successful, the GBA's fun potential will increase exponentially(GBAFUN2 = [GBAFUN1^#ofEMULATEDSYSTEMS] * #ofEMULATEDGAMES), so you'd better buy these cartridges up now because Nintendo of America REALLY won't be happy about that.
just a thought
lysergically yours
Oh my God they're after me !
"Clearly Piratical" and "Possibly Piratical"
Which are defined as so: "Clearly Piratical" is defined as overwhelming and substantial similarity between the copyrighted elements of the protected work and the imported item so as to clearly indicate that one work was based upon the other. The second, "Possibly Piratical" encompasses those situations in which articles are suspected of constituting piratical copies, but are not clearly deemed to be such at the time of presentment.
I would like to see when EXACTLY did the US Customs service say that: "the Flash Advance Linker violates the DMCA and is subject to confiscation." This sounds like a bunch of bullshit from NOA's lawyers.
The problem with the vague wording of the DMCA is that it can be used against the DMCA, with enough money to buy decent lawyers to represent the point of view. If a person or device is able to circumvent a technological measure in an effective manner (ie, if it's feasible to do in a reasonable, finite time), then the protection method is not effective, hence the DMCA should not be able to be used against such means. On the other hand, encryption of enough bitage is effective, currently. The day that quantum computers are common place, that position might change and make the DMCA irrelevant. In the end, any circumvention device is almost by definition effective in circumventing a technological measure, so I don't see why the DMCA was ever worded in this manner.
that annoying plastic sticker seal thing on the edge. By tearing that thing off, you are circumventing their copy protection. Next thing you know, your hands have been confiscated because they are circumvention devices.
Based on that logic, it seems every device is a violation of the DMCA. You are a violation cause I can store information in your brain. A pencil is too, because you can draw some words that express how to get around a "mechanism."
Extended futher, it seems every object is a violation of the DMCA. You could use hydrocholoric acid to modify the form of the plastic casing which would then allow you to COPY THE SIGNALS FROM THE GAMEBOY'S A & B BUTTONS, which would allow you to reverse-engineer some crappy software copy protection scheme!! But no, that would be a violation of Title 17, chapter 1, section 1201.
Secondly, the first amendement provides freedom of speech and the press. A disc burner is an instrument of the press. Therefore congress shall make no law prohibiting the free exercise thereof of a CD burner.
Thirdly, the ninth amendment states that even though the Constitution enumerates certain rights, those rights are not the only rights you have, and that the constitution is not meant to destroy any other rights you have.
Got friends?
Nintendo of America Inc. (NOA) is providing this letter of notification pursuant to the Digital Millennium Copyright Act, USC 17 1201(b) (DMCA) and the US Customs ruling dated December 20, 2001, regarding the import, distribution and sale of the Flash Advance Linker. US Customs confirmed the Flash Advance Linker violates the DMCA and is subject to confiscation.
This notice is addressed to the agent designated by Win-Developer to receive notifications of claimed infringements, as reflected in the current records of the U.S. Copyright Office.
NOA has a good faith belief that your GBA rom collection and flash linker infringes Nintendo's intellectual property rights in violation of section 1201(b) of the DMCA and subject to seizure under 19 USC 1595a(c)(2)(c) by US Customs.
The post describing your Flash Advance Linker was found at: http://slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid=28286&thresho
Nintendo demands that you immediately cease the use of the Flash Advance Linker and turn it over to Nintendo.
The Flash Advance Linker appearing in your post has been identified by its title, description [and/or] depictions of associated artwork. Based on the information at its disposal on February 20, 2002, NOA believes that the statements in this notice are accurate and correctly describe the infringing nature and status of the infringing material.
Should you have any questions, please contact Nintendo of America Inc.
Endless arguments over trivial contradictions in books written by ignorant savages to explain thunder in the dark.
...when you combine this with the description of Visoly's other Flash Advance products. It sure sounds from the visoly site's description of those products that they are marketing them for copying first, and developing second. The first paragraph of the Flash Advance description states: "Once you have sent games, demos or programs to it's memory using the Flash Advance Linker, it can simply be plugged into the Gameboy Advance and it will act like an original game -- there is 100% not any difference!" Not until the fourth paragraph do they chime in with: "The Flash Advance 64M is furthermore the perfect choice for any professional Gameboy Advance developers or even home developers" I know this doesn't invalidate the legitimate uses of the Linker, but it can't help their cause to have language in their other products' descriptions that seems to advocate piracy using the Linker.
okay, this is off topic, but what's this about the BSA? are they using blank hard drive sales to count pirated OS installs? if so, could you post some reference material on this? i'm very interested in learning more about it (especially since it would count all us evil linux users as "pirates")
(and we all know how broadly definitions are interpreted...)
if Nintendo seizes these units, they can be sued for trafficing!
So does this mean that burners and floppies and possibly even copy machines and pen and paper are to be illegal? The DMCA seems to be more used as an easy way for big companies to get at anyone they want than some sort of actual business protections. Is this how business works now in America? Whine to the government and they'll do whatever you want?
Of course, though, things like burners won't ever be outlawed. The companies that make most of them have too tight a grip on things at Washington.
Buy the gamecube, break it, take it back.
Nastygram to Nintendo complete. Feel better now.
Steve Magruder, Metro Foodist
This thing is more widespread and older! I went down to a local Software, Etc and Target and saw them! Why hasn't NOA went at it?
NOA has become a bully, and I won't stand for it. Next one I see on eBay, I will buy!!! Even better, directly give the money to the company by purchasing it through them! The poster should get them out his stores through eBay (much quicker + would NOA be able to make you break the legal contract between buyer and seller off ebay?)
forget it.
That was on the message board.
Also on the message board is the statement that ZD didn't inport the flash linkers at all; they were bought from a US supplier. (I wanna know who that is!)
"Never, never suspect the dreams within the dreams of dreaming children." ~The Amazon Quartet
Ford Motor company today sized all Firestone / Bridgestone tires that fit vehicles Ford Manufactures.
A ford executive was quoted as saying, "Bridgestone has clearly violated the DMCA by producing tires that fit on our vehicles."
10: PRINT "Everything old is new again."
20: GOTO 10
Nintendo has ALWAYS raked in huge profits off their cartridge based systems. Back on the NES the only way to get cartridges made was to pay Nintendo to make them for you, and if they didn't like you for some reason, your cartridge shipment got limited, pushed back in the queue, etc.
This is also one of the big reasons the N64 was cartridge based...Nintendo figured that CDs wouldn't be able to bring in as much cash as cartridges that needed to be produced at Nintendo.
So the piracy thing bothers them, but not nearly as much as the fact that this product basically allow anyone who wants to go out and write their own GBA software without paying the money for a GBA dev kit, and the fact that they are really, really close to losing a big revenue stream less than a year into the GBA launch. Moral of the story...go buy one now. Nintendo's going to try and kill this now and forever.
Netjak.com independent reviews of domestic & import video ga
what the intended market for any product is. I can buy a gun quite easily and shoot anyone I please. I could buy a car and run over your dog. I might like it, and a lot of people might want to do it. That doesn't mean that is the 'intended market'. I am so sick of you control freaks telling everyone what they can and cannot do simply because there is the opportunity to do wrong. Shame on you.
A copying device does not circumvent protection unless there is some technological measure in place to prevent idle copying.
Are GBA cartridges encrypted or otherwise copy protected? if not 1201(b) does not apply.
I have no points to mod this, but I can verify the truth in this post. Nintendo makes little to no money on hardware, it is all due to software sales and support (their 900 number game support makes millions each day).
Nintendo isn't evil, but they do know how they make their money. They will not allow this product to last.
Sueing XEROX and Cannon for copyright infringment by book publishers?
Rick B.
Now I'm pretty sure that in the event that someone turns me in for having a few 6" long pieces of spring steel that I use for fun will not generate Official Trouble[TM]. A slide-hammer which had been modifided to destructively remove the lock-cylinder would presumably be another matter;-).
To extend the analogy, look at switchblade knives. I could consider one to be a 'useful tool', however in the US (with the sole exception I think of Portland OR?) law considers that there are not sufficient benign uses for this to justify that as a buyer I can find a functionally equal cutting tool with a legal form-factor
Linux is Linux, if One need clarify their dist: <Dist>/GNU Linux
bsds are of course just BSD
cultchyldren@aol.com m
/. lets do some good old DOSing and email posting and dont forget those phone calls telling this asswad what a fuck he is.
postmaster@cultchyldren.com
webmaster@cultchyldren.com
root@cultchyldren.co
bitchassdmcalovingfags@cultchyldren.com
Organization
CultChyldren
Martin Boynton
1315 Capuchino Ave
Burlingame, CA 94010
US
Phone 415-256-2970-20
Email martin@wrestlecult.com
Domain Name: CULTCHYLDREN.COM
Created on..............: Fri, Nov 03, 2000
Expires on..............: Sun, Nov 03, 2002
Record last updated on..: Fri, Nov 03, 2000
Administrative Contact:
NMSO4
Martin Boynton
1315 Capuchino Ave
Burlingame, CA 94010
US
Phone: 415-256-2970-20
Email: martin@wrestlecult.com
cmon now
and now i guess i will type a whole big long ammount of words to defeat the lame filter
Important Stuff:
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Copyright violation IS worse than murder, as far as the civil courts are concerned. Copyright violations annoy big companies with lawyers.
Dead people don't have lawyers.
Build stuff. Stuff that walks, stuff that rolls, whatever.
Go back to customs.gov, and do a search for "Flash Advance Linker" and you'll see that NOA is not bull-shitting.
They've obviously had their in-house counsel hard at work on this case, and apparently the courts have given the U.S. Customs the authority to make these decisions about, and interpretations of, U.S. copyright law.
Unless some heavy hitters get involved (e.g. EFF, et. al.) to help him out, then I'm afraid this guy has only a very steep, uphill battle.
It is sad, but the reality is that NOA will almost certainly win this.
Despite what EULAs say, most software is sold, not licensed.
Dear Sam Michaels:
a cc
How are you gentlemen?
Nintendo of America Inc. (NOA) is providing this letter of notification pursuant to the Digital Millennium Copyright Act, USC 17 1201(b) (for great justice take off every zig) and the US Customs ruling dated December 20, 2001, regarding the import, distribution and sale of the Flash Advance Linker. US Customs confirmed the Flash Advance Linker violates the DMCA and is subject to confiscation.
This notice is addressed to the agent designated by Zophar's Domain to receive notifications of claimed infringements, as reflected in the current records of the U.S. Copyright Office.
NOA has a good faith belief that someone set up us the bomb by distributing illegal imports of the Flash Advance Linker in violation of section 1201(b) of the DMCA and subject to seizure under 19 USC 1595a(c)(2)(c) by US Customs.
The e-commerce page offering the Flash Advance Linker for sale was found on your site at:
http://www.zophar.net/store/items.phtml?gba-
Nintendo demands that you immediately cease the importation, distribution and sale of the Flash Advance Linker and all your base are belong to us
The Flash Advance Linker appearing on Zophar.net has been identified by its title, description [and/or] depictions of associated artwork. Based on the information at its disposal on February 19, 2002, NOA believes that the statements in this notice are accurate and correctly describe the infringing nature and status of the infringing material.
Should you have any questions, please move zig, move zig move zig at the following address, telephone and fax numbers, and/or e-mail address:
Nintendo of America Inc.
Attn: We get signal. What?
4820 Main screen turn on!
Redmond, WA 98052
Telephone: 425-861-2187
Fax: 425-882-3585
E-mail: Noalegal@noa.nintendo.com
We look forward to working with you to immediately resolve this matter. You are on the way to destruction. You have no chance to survive, make your time.
Sincerely,
NINTENDO OF AMERICA INC.
sig?
Actually, not. DMCA makes unauthorized stuff illegal. Presumable Nintendo would authorize themselves to have the objects :)
At least this kind of thing should make it blindingly obvious to even the most blinkered redneck that all the old rubbish about America being "the land of the free", "we have more freedom here and now than anywhere else in the world" etc etc is just that, a pile of rubbish. Very, very few developed countries have laws as oppressive of the little guy as the DMCA.
Sadly, it's possible that the USA will use its huge economic power to diminish freedom for others, by "persuading" other governments to pass DMCA-like laws. It has a very dirty history of doing such things.
I happen to live in a country where it's possible to go the ticket counter at an airport, ask to buy a ticket to go halfway around the world, and pay for it in cash, without being questioned. You can't do that in the US, and if the current Washington regime ever fulfils its dream of ruling the entire planet, no doubt that measure of privacy would be wiped out everywhere.
"The drug war is becoming an excellent example of why due process became necessary in the first place. I will condone no law that circumvents due process in order to deprive citizens of life, liberty, or property. I will condone no law that exposes our persons, property, or documents in any form to unreasonable search and seizure. The end does not justify the means."
t ml
-- the Declaration of Self Determination
http://www.rapplean.net/declsd/thedeclaration.h
It applies to importing counterfeit goods. Basically it gives customs the right to seize counterfeit goods. Link to law It has nothing to do with the DMCA. Thier argument really makes no sense. I can't find any ruling that link the DMCA to this law.
If your not cheating your not trying. If your not trying your not winning and if your not winning why play?
Hell, he should have received a Cease and Desist Letter just for those damned animated new gifs. Please stop the insanity...
A company called Bung Enterprise lossed a previous lawsuit for a device that did the same thing for regular gameboy games.
If your not cheating your not trying. If your not trying your not winning and if your not winning why play?
I just bought a GBA for my wife last week, and then one for myself a few days ago.
I'm a professional software developer, so of course I looked up development tools for the little beast. I found the GNU tools, and info that I'd need such a flash device to actually make a cartridge. And also info on how they are hard-ish to get because of the crackdown.
I'd consider making my own Tetris game if only to avoid paying $60cdn for shitty Tetris Worlds.
But no... this tool can be used to copy games, so I can't write my own.
--
Marc A. Lepage
Software Developer
And wouldn't it be too easy to work around by including non-word characters into the page widening posts (underscores, hyphens)?
I guess, the best solution would still be to use a real browser. Indeed, what kind of dick would surf Slashdot with IE? That's worse than a bespectacled geek going to a football match. Or a jock coming to the chess club. IE is just not in its place on Slashdot... don't ya people know this is supposed to be a Linux hangout? ;-)
Say no to software patents.
Would the device still be violating the DCMA if instead of using a base that can accept flash cartridges or standard GBA's the flash cartridges used a port on themselves to hook up to the pc? You could still transfer to and from the flash carts at will, use them in a GBA, but you would not be able to read standard GBA roms directly. You'd get 100% legitimate (sans your right to backup the standard roms) use out of the unit, while pulling NOA's DCMA carpet out from under them.
ever since n64 and game boy days, i've been going to www.cd64.com for all my nintendo warezing needs.
i got backup systems for both those devices and been very happy with them. i HAVE used them to develop simple pong type games, but in reality i mainly just use them to copy roms.
i've been looking at getting a gameboy advance and flash advance for some time, but for some reason i haven't. now that nintendo is getting all angry about it, i just placed my order.
you say the gba screen is terrible? well they got a tv adapter now (see above site)... so i got a rom copier and 256 meg flash cartridge + a tv converter to play the gba on my 15' projector for around $200. add on the $65 for the gba, and you have a home entertainment system, that is also portable + unlimited high quality games for $265. i already got all the roms for the gba anyways, so i'm pretty excited. thanks for the push over the edge nintendo, i'll enjoy screwing you out of money for at least another few years.
Marijuana has medicinal value, but it's still illegal. THANK YOU.
Instead of trying to fault the point I'm making, try to understand it. It is up to a court of law to judge whether or not this is a tool of piracy or not, all I was saying was NINTENDO HAS A GOOD CASE. You may have noticed in the subject of my original post that I believe "Nintendo has a good case". I did not write my subject to say "Emulators are Illegal." Nor did I say "Everybody who uses an Emulator is a pirate."
Here's what a Nintendo Lawyer could say:
"Look, your honor, these guys have a link to an emulators site to play illegal images of copyrighted games. They also have patches available for download to fix some copyrighted games so they work on this system. Yet there are absolutely 0 links that talk about how to write your own software for it. There is no evidence that all this product does is play copyrighted games. Anybody who'd use it to actually write new apps for the GBA would have to really dig around the net to make it useful as a developer's tool. It is clearly marketed as a tool for playing copyrighted games "
I am in no position to say they are right or wrong, I was making a point that they do have a good argument. It is pretty embarrasing for this company to link to an emulators site because it will likely be used against them. You can make all the arguments that emus aren't necessarily used for piracy and that PocketPC's work this way and yadda yadda yadda. That's all for the judge to decide.
"Derp de derp."
With the DMCA and the extra-long copyright terms, you can guarantee that no surviving copies of a work will exist when the copyright term runs out. You can pretty much guarantee that you'll make your money on your work and that your work will never enter the public domain. Which is a good thing, if you're a big corporation, because that means that the public will no longer be able to get some pesky public domain work for their entertainment, even if they wanted to.
I'm trying to teach myself to set people on fire with my mind... Is it hot in here?
LOL, turn your remaining stock over to Nintendo.
And in a few months:
"New from NOA! Flash Advance Linkers!"
Do you like German cars?
...because you can write to the unofficial flash carts significantly faster than the official Nintendo solution! Which is a godsend if you're debugging a link-up game, and don't have the luxury of more than one dev kit!
To Steven Maurer:
Are you the Steve Maurer who attended Crown College in the early '80s (graduated '83?)
If you are, could you contact me at sconeu@hotmail.com (spamtrap address).
Thanks,
Scott Neugroschl aka "Noman".
Fascism starts when the efficiency of the government becomes more important than the rights of the people.
I JUST this morning ordered one! I swear if I don't get it I'm going to raise hell.
(Addendum: I went job hunting today after I left my brother's resturant. I tried 5 places, 4 weren't hiring, 1 I had 30 mins to get to an interview. Turns out that I was EARLY for the interview despite me thinking I was late 15 mins, and that they wouldn't hire me because of age (16) although the clerk at the store I went to said they hire some positions at 16).
This was mentioned in the case of Sega vs. Accolade where Accolade used the 4 magic bytes to get the game to start up ('S', 'E', 'G', 'A' makes the ROM happy and displays the license screen.)
You'll also notice the GB(Orig/Pokt/Lite/Colr/Advc) has the "Nintendo(R)" logo placed/scrolling, and when you take out the cart, it turns black. (At least on a GBO/P/L/C) There are about 20 bytes in the ROM file (I know, I've worked with these suckers) that have that graphic in GBC packed tile format that is checked in ROM. (NoA has also sued a church group making edutainment for the GBC for infringement, NoA lost.) Also, if anyone remembers the Y2Kode demoscene compo, NoA sent a C+D to Lik-Sang/Y2Kode saying you're gonna get a court summons if ya don't take down the GBC ROMs. NoA has always been against the demoscene, and always will. I suggest a boycott.
--Joshua, swinging a GBC flashcart+XChanger (NoA sent a C+D to the people who made that to, the Bung device, they're dead too...) by the parallel cable
Why should Zophar's store owner turn in all his stock to Nintendo ? Gee, I should sue future shop over DVD burners because I 'represent' Sony and such burners can be used to copy games, maybe I could screw a few free DVDR drives out of the stunt.
I can see Nintendo trying to stop FlashAdvance sales and production, but that shouldn't be done at the expense of resellers who are in their perfectly legal right to sell these devices.
On the other hand, maybe Nintendo should stop and think. Yes, these things can be used for piracy, but they're rather expensive and I wouldn't buy such a device for my 11 year old nephew. It's much cheaper to buy games and trade them when you're done.
If these flash cards were really as popular and 'dangerous' as Nintendo claims, you'd see them in every store, online and real-life. The fact is: they're serving a niche market of rich pirates (?!) or amateur game developers. Just the thought of coding my own games for the GBA, then showing off to friends and inlaws makes my brain tingle. To me, it appears as though NOA is about to shoot itself in the foot, only this time it isn't Nintendo vs Sony or Sega, it's Nintendo vs the people. BAD bad idea.
-Billco, Fnarg.com
I would reply with a simple 2 word form letter...
phUcK aWF!
It's not like they could actually DO anything if you told them to roll their letter and insert it sideways into their lawyer's anal orifice.
-fc
. echo -e \\04 >
Well, recently I had hit a site that gave me very good documentation and introduced me to a good GBA development mailing list. Through this list I got a CD of documentation, programming examples, etc. Now while this information could be (and will be) used for third-party development of the GBA, it probably also has some info on schmea using flash components or EEPROM that tells how to build a similar device. I wonder if having possession of this information could cause problems. I mean currently I build the images in a modified version of GCC and run them through an emulator but if something looks good and the code gets finalized out I'd like to eventually be able to put it on something that a true GBA could run. I'd hate for that crucial step to be made illegal by NOA abusing the DMCA (as if anything else happens with it.)
( o ) one could say I'm rather baked
DMCA is bought to you by "Donated Money by Corporate America". :P
Oh wait, the kids do care about this junk. Not having a clue what the product was I tried looking at the links. Tiny Windoze fonts in low contrast colours against super dark background won't attract the adults. Cripes why do games rate such importance? Reminds me of the goofy kid Hondas with all those nifty stickers that make them so fast. And all other such nonsense of big numbers that are supposed to impress, NOT.
The problem here is that regardless of whether there are or are not subtantial non-infringing uses is immaterial unless you've got the budget and cajones to fight it out in court. If they take down their site then they protect themselves legally. If they don't then Nintendo can go right ahead and sue them, come what may.
If Nintendo were to lose said suit, the only harm to them is the legal cost which is a drop in the bucket for them. If the accused loses, then there's legal fees and whatever damages are awarded. Heck, even if the accused wins, that will be after years of protracted legal rangling at exhorbitant costs. So the DMCA completely slants the legal playing field to the accuser. If I'm NOA, or any other company, it is in my best interest to swamp people with cease and desist letters because the odds are nobody will try to fight me. If they refuse, then it's up to me whether I feel like going after them.
Smart companies will, of course, pick and choose their battles, to work out a strong court precedent. Why go after the New York Times for publishing something when you can go after a hacker magazine? Eventually a strong legal history develops that pretty much gives any device manufacturer carte blanche to declare how people are allowed to use their systems, regardless of copyright issues.
Seems to me that there needs to be some protections in the DMCA for false accusations. While a company has to swear they are not purgoring (sp?) themselves it's next to impossible to prove that they did. They can simply say that they thought it was a violation and turns out they were wrong. There needs to be some penalty for going after somebody, otherwise there's no reason not to try to go after everybody on a whim.
Oh, and as a side note, is it just me, or did the Customs officials just get handed a huge amount of power under our noses?
This sig has been temporarily disconnected or is no longer in service
Redmond, WA 98052
What is it about Redmond that makes businesses up there be so unfriendly to consumers? (*ahem* Microsoft)
I pledge allegiance to the flag...
of the Corporate States of America...
I mean, it's perfectly legal to own/sell crackpipes in BC but I don't see any substantial legal use for it.
Karma: Non-Heinous
You need to be a registered dev to wrote GBA code and actually distribute it. You can back up your games, but this is not what this device does, it bypasses the unique cart identifier in the process when it back it up (Ie. It cracks the game.). The only way to back the game up is to buy a cart directly from Nintendo that has the same ID chip within it for that particular game. Again, all that code that you or your friend wrote that you want to share would still be illegal. I still dont see a single legit use out of the 5 you posted.
Your example is totally different, as a VCR doesn't rip out encryption like this linker does.
Nintendo demands that you immediately ... turn over your remaining stock to Nintendo.
... be deprived of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law ...
IANAL, but this is obviously an illegal demand:
The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be violated...
-- Fourth amemdment, US constitution
No person shall
-- Fifth amemdment, US constitution
The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing. - Edmund Burke
The following is the letter that Sam Michaels is sending to Nintendo, copied from this message board post by Sam Michaels:
He also mentions in the post that he has been told by the manufacturer of the Linkers and a guy from Lik Sang to basically "tell them to kiss your ass and ignore it".
Actually what they do is make it incredibly hard to do anything without their custom dev hardware and software dev kit. You need to sign the paperwork to get these things, of course. Also, you probably have to negotiate with them in order to use their name on the packaging. Also, some of their contracts with the actual game stores might have some clause such that the store isn't allowed to sell nintendo stuff that isn't approved of by nintendo.
Have you ever read the DMCA? That's rhetorical, because you obviously have not.
You are mistaken.
Do you think they just pulled a law out of their ass that says "Breaking or circumventing encryption is illegal", and that's it? Wake up, cluebag. The DMCA is all about protecting copyright, not encryption schemes.
Except where it isn't. I refer any genuinely interested person to review the relevant statute, codified in Title 17 here, at section 1201, which bars circumvention of effective copyright protection systems and here, at section 1202, which bars messing with copyright management information.
Of course, since the author of the preceding uncivil posting claims to have carefully reviewed and read the DMCA, he would know that it provides no other relevant remedy meaningfully related to the subject of his posting. Reasonable people may decide for themselves which of the two posts, his and mine, more clearly addresses the merits; and in this case, why one of us posts as an Anonymous Coward, but the other does not.
US Customs know what is inside is not drugs, kiddie pr0n, etc
If you really do want to know, US Customs does x-ray the materials to see that the label matches the contents. In this case, they would have seen some electronics coming from Hong Kong, which, when you think about it, really do look like a gift for under $30. They also randomly open some packages, or will open a package if they see something they don't like (like a bottle of pills). Of course, kiddie porn should be easy to get through customs, they don't care about a magazine, or CD, or whatever for it would probably come in, and if it is on a CD they aren't going to check the contents of the CD.
For many offending items, they will just confiscate and tell no one. This leads to a lot of international scams involving "selling drugs" but they never ship and customs is blamed. If it is a lot of drugs, they will usually let it through and pick up the receiver one they are in possession of the drugs. Then they will try to work up the chain.
-no broken link
Take a look at the manual for any NES cartridge. They've had that disclaimer since the '80's.
I wonder if this guy crossed the legal limit.
Classifying it as a piracy site could be an issue, but the one I really wonder about is the very clear accusation that they offer emulators to get people to buy copiers. Of course, if it is more or less true then they may not have a case.... Of course, they may not have a case anyway - what do I know?
Why is Grand Theft Auto a much more serious crime than Reckless Driving?
Hey can you give us a URL to an article? I searched with the exact phase and found nothing that mentioned the Linker
I do find it very odd that Nintendo is just now choosig to go after folks for the flash linker. A few possiblities exist though.
1. Nintendo dosn't like users dumping roms for emulator users and other r0m freaks.
2. Nintendo dosn't like it that many of the dev houses use low cost backup units instead of the kit supplied by NOA/NOJ. This would make a lot of sense, because most gameboy games are developed on the GBX, and many n64 games, such as the whole Turok Series, and part of Perfect Dark were developed on such units.
3. They're settling an old score with Bung. If you recall, Bung software was sued by Nintendo and now none of their warez can be sold in the US.
13 year old white supremacists are shitty web designers.
Important, right now, today, show how it does more useful things than just copy the ROMs!
Yes, you know it can be made to do development, and test/create new software, but you have to make that apparent in all your ads NOW!
I went through something like this before and was put out of business, got a lawyer "pro bono" that didn't want to work hard.
I agreed to stop making them. Company went away.
However, having hindsite and lawyer advice, he said that if it had subtantial other uses (in my case even a RAM test would do) then it would have been easy to stop a injunction.
Go ask a lawyer, but in the mean time, why not put all the programming resources on your site, make code available for download, some example games and so on.
So do it now so you can show it has other substantial uses, a prelim injunction is next, the idea is to put you out of business fast so you can't defend yourself.
There is nothing wrong with people making a back up of their data, and how do they do it without a device like this?
Oh, and by the way I learned a little law while I was at it and watched the lawyer, he looks stuff up that you can find in a law library and there are example filings available everywhere, thus I could have "given up" and filed papers all by myself. Visit a law library and use the lawyers for advice only, in my opinion.
Hope you read this.
At least we can copy import warez anything here..... its our right.
Humanity is older than Coorporations
Wouldn't this kill any paragraph longer than 50 characters, as long as it only contained dots, word characters and *gasp*, spaces...
No, it checks for words preceded by periods. If there are 50 or more consecutive words preceded by periods, then and only then does the filter kicks in. Good point about the non-word characters, tho'. But that'd be pretty easy to incorporate into the filter.
Indeed, what kind of dick would surf Slashdot with IE?
Perhaps the kind of dick whose employer's pain in the ass IT department demands total company-wide desktop conformity? Not everyone gets to pick their browser. For those folks, it's a good solution.
(Actually, Proxo's worthwhile anyway -- its default filters alone eliminate 90% of the really annoying shit on the web.)
The "protective device" is actually the proprietary cartridge connection format that interfaces the GBA
Multiplexed address and data buses (the primary thing keeping the GBA cart edge interface from being just standard practice) have been around at least since the Intellivision.
Will I retire or break 10K?
ZD didn't inport the flash linkers at all; they were bought from a US supplier. (I wanna know who that is!)
That would be Visoly Inc
Will I retire or break 10K?
Yep, I see it now. Didn't seem all that obvious tho. I appreciate you pointing that out.
"Were your eyes seized for contravening the DMCA?"
I'm NOT PRO DMCA. Why's everybody assume I'm on their side?
What part of 'NINTENDO HAS A GOOD CASE' didn't anybody read? Why does everybody read it as "Nintendo's clearly in the right." or "Emulation is Illegal" or "Every single person in the world who uses an EMU is commiting a crime" or "There is no non-pirate use for the system" or "It should be banned for sale"? I never said ANY of that?
This is getting really pathetic. Obviously the guy who modded me up understood I had a point, but a bunch of people who responded to this made a worst case bastardization of what I said.
Let me restate it... AGAIN...
If/When this goes to court, Nintendo's case could go something like:
"You honor, this site clearly intended to sell a device that allows people to play GBA games illegally. Look at their site! They immediately link to several emulators sites. "
Now I made the mistake of thinking that everybody knew that Nintendo assumes Emus are simply there for piracy. That's the way all these companies act. It doesn't matter if every single person in the world uses the EMU for legitimate uses, that's Nintendo's view. That's Sony's View. That's all major game company's views. I thought people would understand this instinctively, but instead I was interpreted as a pro DMCA, EMU hating bastard. Personally, I think people were so hyped about defending their precius Emu's, that they didn't stop and think what I meant is that a lawyer would say that. Hence the subject "Nintendo has a good case."
"Your honor, they even have patches to run copyrighted games on this product."
They do. Right under 'software'. They have no mention of SDK's here (yes they do have it under the emulator's page, and I appreciate that being brought up.) , but you'd think that if it was a developer's tool, it'd do SOMETHING here to show itself as a tool. But it really doesn't. I'm sorry, it doesn't. It does NOT. And a Laywer for Nintendo is going to say that.
In any case, I'm ONLY talking about WHAT THE LAWYER WOULD SAY. -- see that? See? Is that so hard to understand? Do you get it now? Huh? If not, reread the beginning of this paragraph again. Heck, do it anyway. Nobody else seems to stick this point. Well I want you to stick this point because if you dont, you'll develop the idea that I am on Nintendo's side. If you think Im anti-Emu, pro DMCA, or even against this company making this product, then don't bother replying. My response will immediately be "Fuck you" followed by "you didn't read what I said. Reread it and leave me alone."
It is really frustrating that I tried to provide an insight that nobody has brought up before. I suppose I could have made it clearer. But I'm still surprised that everybody who responded wildly misinterpreted me. I can understand the 'not everybody uses emu's are doing so illegally', but not the 'you are a moron', or the 'you seem to be in love with the DMCA'. I tried to explain that I never said the Emus were illegal, Nintendo thinks they're piracy tools. And to a degree, they'd be right. There's a huge area of the net dedicted to illegally obtained roms. By associating this product with that community, they never ever had a chance at getting on Nintendo's good side. I could have clarified that a bit early on, I regret that I didn't.
Oh well. This is the last I'm saying on this subject. If you still think that I'm a Pro-DMCA whatever, then I suggest you take a look at my last 20 or so posts flaming the RIAA for their lousy business practices. Then, if you still think I'm a pro DMCA advocate, or an anti-EMU person, then all I have to say is "Fuck You."
"Derp de derp."
Standard disclaimers aside, you agree to it by your purchase of their product AFAIK.
Additional restrictions can't be added to a contract after consideration (in this case, money for Game Pak) has been exchanged. By the time you see the additional terms (i.e. have opened the shrinkwrap and the manual), it's too late for Nintendo to present an enforceable contract.
Will I retire or break 10K?
You need to be a registered dev to wrote GBA code and actually distribute it.
Says who? And who says his word is legally binding?
Will I retire or break 10K?
Then why not go with a public attorney? You know the - if you can't afford to have one then one is appointed thing.
Court appointed attorneys work only on criminal cases, not civil cases. Most copyright infringement cases are civil cases, not criminal cases.
Will I retire or break 10K?
Physical things is the realm of patents, and Nintendo may or may not have patents on the interface to their cartridges.
There is no patent on the GBA cart edge connector protocol. If there were a patent, the Intellivision cart edge interface would be prior art, as the primary difference between GBA cart and legacy GB carts is the fact that like an Intellivision cart, a GBA cart has a multiplexed address and data bus.
Will I retire or break 10K?
the proprietary arrangement of pins (probably patented) on the cartridge interface can easily be considered copyright protection mechanism, or even an encryption scheme. Counting them (and of course using a voltmeter to find out which is which) is obviously a circumvention technique.
Yes, but the DMCA makes some specific exceptions to its ban on circumventing copy protection. Reverse engineering for interoperability is one of them (17 USC 1201(f)).
Will I retire or break 10K?
Distributing copies of the game is clearly copyright infringement.
Not if the game has been released as free software (or even free as in beer). Nintendo's titles aren't free, but mine are. I put my proofs of concept and short utilities under the Expat license and my full games under the GNU GPL. It's only copyright infringement to redistribute binaries of GPL'd software if you neglect make an offer to distribute machine-readable source code at cost.
Developing and using free software constitutes a substantial non-infringing use of the Visoly Flash Advance Pro cartridges.
Will I retire or break 10K?
The problem is that this site (and many others) make it fairly obvious that "this is a copier" and "we are going to copy illegal stuff with it".
The manufacturer's web page clearly states that "The Flash Advance 256M is furthermore the perfect choice for any professional Gameboy Advance developers or even home developers - Create your own games using your PC (free software is available) and simply use the Flash Advance 256M to show your game/demo to friends or test it on real Hardware." Heck, every single page links to gbadev.org (a homebrew site).
Will I retire or break 10K?
pro bono
I know that this is short for "pro bono publico," which translates literally "for the public good," or more idiomatically "volunteer." However, in the minds of many readers, the actions of the late Sonny Bono have diluted this phrase into meaning "in favor of repeated copyright term extensions." Do not use the term "pro bono" in a copyright-related context until the copyright monopoly returns to a more reasonable duration.
Will I retire or break 10K?
Yet I don't see an SDK for it. I don't see links to how to develop games on it.
The manufacturer's site links to a site about homebrew GBA development.
Just a link to a bunch of emulators, one of them called 'BoyCott'.
VisualBoy is better.
If the site had been "Here's the product you need to run your GBA apps on your GBA, and here's documentation on how to program for it, and here's some samples of code", then I'd accept that it is a developer's tool. But there's no evidence of any of that.
Then what are those links to gbadev.org and devrs.com doing on the left side of visoly.com?
Will I retire or break 10K?
Read up on my diatribe Harrison Bergeron. Google has it on many links like this...
e ro n_movie.html
http://www.geocities.com/Hollywood/4953/kv_berg
I'd consider making my own Tetris game if only to avoid paying $60cdn for shitty Tetris Worlds.
No, you can't make your own Tetris® game because Blue Planet Software aka The Tetris Company owns a trademark on the name "Tetris". You can make a falling tetramino game, but you'll just have to call it something different such as Quadra or freepuzzlearena.
And what's so bad about Worlds? It has Tetris, The New Tetris, The Next Tetris, a clone of Quadra, and two new variations all in one cartridge. That is, other than the fact that speed levels 13 through 15 are practically unplayable.
Will I retire or break 10K?
everyone that ever reads slashdot will want to extend you a laurEl and a big thanks. You have helped in ways that you can't even imagine. Thank you for pointing that out to everyone and please pat yourself on the back. You deserve a gold star, a cigar AND a bananna.
Slashdot's topics page already has a topic, another topic, and a section called Your Rights Online devoted to questionably constitutional civil rights violations. Note that the top story in the YRO section is this very story.
Will I retire or break 10K?
zap one with like 12V down a few data lines till it doesnt work ,then send it in and wait to see if you get a new one cause
"back ups arn't needed"
document the whole thing with letters etc and then use that as evidence.
also in discovery (if they sue) get THEIR records of how many carts have been returned / replaced and how they handle it for FREE!!
It's the way many of the game development companies are developing their games- targeting to the GBA itself and using a Visoly flash cartrige. Cheaper than Nintendo's answer and attainable for garage game and demo developers.
I am not merely a "consumer" or a "taxpayer". I am a Citizen of the State of Texas
Bigger than any Zophar!!!
I have a stomach egg.
I don't think it would, if the case somehow makes it to court (it was a just a letter afterall). I imagine the big question is "does this violate the DMCA?" That is, unless, it somehow gets the the SC who could strike down the DMCA (yeah right).
Personally, I don't blame them too much. It does have legitimate use but it does promote piracy as well no matter how you look at it. I still think it should be legal but this isn't the worst abuse of the DMCA that I've seen.
NanoGator: "I'm NOT PRO DMCA. Why's everybody assume I'm on their side?"
:)
Chill. I wasn't assuming that - just making a DMCA-related quip, this being a DMCA-related thread, and eyes being perfect devices for recording copyrighted material for later mental playback.
NanoGator: "Look at their site! They immediately link to several emulators sites."
Now it's my turn to be blind - the only link to an 'emulator' site (GBAEMU.com) is actually a dev site as well - the top news article today is about the release of a new version of another GBA SDK.
Other than that, there's no mention of emulators at all, except in the bar at the top which is a description of the unit itself, not any software emulation.
The only software on the site is for the hardware they're selling itself, and the software patches for games allow it to be used for yet another purpose which either *is* legal or *should* be - combining multiple games to a single cartridge so that you only need to carry one around with you. Pirates wouldn't need the patches - they'd just download pre-patched versions of the games from their Warez sites.
++ Say to Elrond "Hello.".
Elrond says "No.". Elrond gives you some lunch.
I stand corrected. Thank you for being civil. :)
I still think Nintendo's Lawyer would put that spin on it, but now it seems that the Flash Linker site has a defense.
"Derp de derp."
My name is PACHUKA. I'm the one who blew the whistle on ZD. Why? Mostly because I don't like the guy who runs it. But I have other motives as well. I work for a game company, and we make Gameboy games. Every game I've worked on I can find floating around the internet. Mostly on EFNET IRC, and various sites hosted by ZTnet.com. I've never disagreed with emulation, and I've never really disagreed with emulation sites. However, I do disagree with sites that set up people for piracy. Do the math. A man runs a site dedicated to emulating systems, then asks you to visit his store where you can buy hardware to copy one of the latest systems? Then it's not emulation and geeky love of reverse engineering, it's simply another portal to warez and piracy. And in the end, it's the game industry that suffers as people can get games and play them on thier gameboy advance in a matter of 5 minutes. Now if 10 people did this, and got a new game every week for a month, and games run about $29.99. $1199.60 in lost funds to make games. $14395.20 a year, just between these 10 people. But it's not 10, it's hundreds. So, Swampgas of Zophar.net, I give you the big fat middle finger salute. Enjoy your parent's basement, or jail, or wherever you end up, because when it comes down to it, you're just another greedy man, trying to lure people to your store with emulators. Much like a childmolester leads a child into a van with some candy. --PACHUKA
Don't mod his post down. It's a full confession, after all.
Goto http://www.customs.ustreas.gov/imp-exp/rulings/hq. htm.
Click on the "Search the full text of ruling letters issued by OR & R, headquarters".
In the bottom frame put "Flash Advance Linker" in the edit box, and hit search.
You'll get a page with a big heading of "October 30, 2001". It's about the 3rd letter on this page. Just search for "Flash Advance Linker" on the page and you'll find it.
Despite what EULAs say, most software is sold, not licensed.
You're a special kind of fucker, aren't you. Take your drooling ignorance somewhere else.
Sounds like the Nazis 0wn the USA ... big surprise. It's time to hold a fire sale with these Flash Linkers, before your worldly wealth is 're-distributed' among the rich and powerful.
:(
they took my last $o.o2
No, US Customs has become part of Nintendo.
Just because it CAN be done, doesn't mean it should!
Who are YOU to talk about the US? A damn Canadian! Ha....
But WE need to correct the "land/home of the free" part of our anthem....
You have a RIGHT, under Federal Law to make ONE ARCHIVAL BACKUP COPY.
Federal Law -- meaning no us/ussr/jap company can restrict it, nor can your state (if it houses a town called Redmond, for example).
Until nintendo will replace my cart -- free of charge -- when my dog eats it or kids play frisbee with it, they have no leg to stand on.