Tecmo Sues Game Hackers Under DMCA

blueZhift writes "This Reuters report on CNet states that Tecmo has filed a federal lawsuit in Chicago under the Digital Millennium Copyright Act accusing the site owners and perhaps some users of game hacking site www.ninjahacker.net (now offline) of knowingly infringing on their game software. This should be another interesting test of the DMCA and just how far it can be pushed to restrict what end users can do with/to their software purchases. This might ultimately affect the legality of cheat devices like the Game Shark and even the mere sharing of cheats or exploits."

Comments

DMCA Violations

[kngthdn]

Considering how most American slashdotters (myself included) consider the DMCA to be a violation of our rights, I hope everyone will understand the urgency of my plight...I need somewhere to post this cheat code...

left-right-left-left-B-A-left-down-trigger-left-B

I can only hope Slashdot has the resources to protect my free speech. ;-)

Really, though...the DMCA sucks, but I can't see cheat codes being a violation while game makers keep putting them in on purpose. Aren't they the ones writing code to do different things when we enter the codes in? What next, prison time for opening an easter egg in Word?

Here's a link to the archived site, before it was taken down.

Re:DMCA Violations

[ThaReetLad]

Well I personally believe this is a serious let off for people who use cheats in online gaming. I've been lobbying for a new amendment to castrate anyone caught using or creating cheats, so this seems rather tame. I'm just not sure it's a big enough deterrent/punishment.

Re:DMCA Violations

[Anonymous Coward]

> I've been lobbying for a new amendment to castrate anyone caught using or creating cheats

Whats the point, coders and online gamers are not likely to reproduce anyways

and masturbating is more fun without the clean up afterwards

Wonder who made those cheats in the first place...

[deejaymaxx]

IDDQD

Now sue me.

Re:Just to add to the flurry of jokes

[kyojin the clown]

The Ataris named a song after that cheat code. Are Konami going to sue The Ataris? Will the RIAA step in to protect their artists rights? What about Atari? Who are they going to sue?

Oh God, I'm being sucked into a whirlpool of recursivity!

Re:America's Army

[Fred_A]

There are nude skins for AA ???

Eww.

Re:Lawsuit in response to online or offline hacks?

[iainl]

They made a game DOA Extreme Beach Volleyball, in which a bunch of digital women run around in skimpy bikinis while the XBox performs millions of calculations per second to ensure their breasts bounce in just the right way.

Then some people came along and made texture patches for those with chipped XBoxes (so someone else did all the hard copy-protection-removal stuff) that removed said pieces of string. This makes Team Ninja look like the dirty little pervs they clearly are, and it's all rather embarrassing for them.

www.ninjahacker.com now offline...

[The_REAL_DZA]

...like it wouldn't have been "offline" anyway after getting front-page mention on /.!

In other news...

[tgrigsby]

...Japanese automobile manufacturers have launched a coordinated legal attack against car owners that modify their vehicles.

"Adding nitrous systems to the fuel injection and 'coffee can' mufflers to the exhaust systems are clearly actions that violate the DMCA," said Hiroshi Yagasaki, lead attorney for Toyota.

Taking a page from the RIAA, investigators have been hired to watch for teens entering automotive parts stores to purchase after market parts for compact vehicles. Fake auto parts websites have been set up to net offenders who would order parts online.

"These young hooligans are clearly stealing from the car companies by circumventing our state-of-the-art protection schemes, which we call 'The Hood'."

Commander Taco was not available for comment.