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Mod Chips Legal In the UK

Posted by timothy on from the mod-fish-still-under-scrutiny dept.

An anonymous reader writes "Good news out of the UK! Techdirt reports that an appeals court has overturned a lower court ruling and has now said that mod chips do not violate copyright laws. The case involved a mod chip seller, who imported mod chips for the XBox from Hong Kong and would sell the chips or mod the Xbox's himself. He was charged with copyright infringement and found guilty by a lower court. The appeals court has dismissed all charges, however."

11 of 169 comments (clear)

  1. This is ridiculous... by superash · · Score: 5, Insightful

    After I buy something, it is _mine_ ! Case closed. I can do whatever I want to do with it. If I had stolen it then I am guilty. I don't see a case otherwise.

    1. Re:This is ridiculous... by Hognoxious · · Score: 5, Funny

      After I buy something, it is _mine_ ! Case closed.
      Nope, I'm pretty certain you have to open it to put the new chip in.
      --
      Confucius say, "Find worm in apple - bad. Find half a worm - worse."
    2. Re:This is ridiculous... by Red+Flayer · · Score: 5, Informative

      Even if the sale has taken place in a "nasty taxation" place like UK, Scandinavia, New York, etc, all taxation can be done in a place with lax taxation like Ireland in the EU or Texas in the USA.
      False. Ever hear of use tax? If you use the good in NY, and its a taxable good, be prepared to pay use tax is the sales tax paid on the purchase is less than the sales tax in NY.

      If it is a rent it cannot be depreciated and cannot count for capex. It is opex, period.
      You sound pretty confident for someone who doesn't know what they are talking about. Capital leases are very common... that's when you have a lease (rental agreement) and you capitalize the asset. The stream of payments for the lease is amortized, and meanwhile you depreciate the asset and record your depreciation expense.

      The usual tax evasion practices of big software and hardware vendors are outright illegal and forbidden by law
      What are you talking about?

      I'd also add that licensing != leasing, I think you're confused on the topic.

      I guess, to sum up, I'd say that gettig accounting/finance advice on slashdot is like getting legal advice on slashdot. Some of it seems to make sense, but I'd rather have duct tape ripped from my scrotum than have to go before the courts or the IRS using advice from slashdot as my only source of information.
      --
      "Trolls they were, but filled with the evil will of their master: a fell race..." -- J.R.R. Tolkien on Olog-hai
    3. Re:This is ridiculous... by tehcyder · · Score: 5, Funny

      I once saw a conference with bill gates, where a child popped his hand up to ask a question. We never got to hear the question. He got as far as "my dad bought me a copy of windows". He interrupted to say "he didn't buy it, he /licensed/ it" before going off on a diatribe that instead of owning a tangible object (a CD with windows on it), you are licensing the 1s and 0s on it. He was about 12 years old. What a cunt.
      Hey, the child was only asking a question...
      --
      To have a right to do a thing is not at all the same as to be right in doing it
  2. Of course they don't violate ... copyright ... by apathy+maybe · · Score: 5, Interesting

    At least, not by any sensible person's definition or understanding of the term "copyright". That is, there may be some legal jurisdictions where a piece of hardware can be considered a violation of copyright law, even if that hardware is not in and off itself a violation. (If you know what I mean.) However, in no sensible place could it be considered to break copyright, anymore then region free DVD players could be considered tools to break copyright.

    (I believe in Australia both are perfectly legal.)

    Of course, what the law says, and what a sensible person would expect the law to say are often two completely different things. Where the law is too complex for the average person to understand, then there is something wrong with it. (Resists temptation to explain why all laws are wrong, complex or not.)

    --
    I wank in the shower.
    1. Re:Of course they don't violate ... copyright ... by teh+kurisu · · Score: 5, Interesting

      Of course, what the law says, and what a sensible person would expect the law to say are often two completely different things.

      I understand why copyright infringement is illegal. What I don't understand is why facilitating copyright infringement is illegal. It's conceivable that somebody is coming to harm when copyright infringement occurs, but nobody necessarily comes to harm when facilitation occurs. If I'm not mistaken, mod chips potentially fall under the

      I say potentially because mod chips can be used to play import games, which is a legal activity (the fact that Sony somehow managed to shut down Lik-Sang notwithstanding). I've long held the (totally unsubstantiated) belief that games console manufacturers deliberately tie together their region encoding and copy protection functions, where disabling one disables both, so that they can cry copyright infringement whenever somebody mods their console for the purpose of playing imports.

    2. Re:Of course they don't violate ... copyright ... by Opportunist · · Score: 5, Insightful

      It's playback prevention.

      Nobody protects my playback. Actually, the opposite takes place.

      --
      We used to have a Bill of Rights. Now, with the rights gone, all we have left is the bill.
  3. Re:I seriously doubt by Silver+Sloth · · Score: 5, Insightful

    At the risk of being accused of trolling Microsoft have the right to decide whatever rules they like about access to Xbox live.

    --
    init 11 - for when you need that edge.
  4. Re:Expect anti-modchip legislation in 3, 2, 1... by drsquare · · Score: 5, Funny

    And the best part is, under new legislation, mod-chip sellers can be held for 42 days without charge.

  5. Old saying still applies by Hells · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Mod chips dont pirate games, people do.

  6. Re:Expect anti-modchip legislation in 3, 2, 1... by Bastard+of+Subhumani · · Score: 5, Funny

    I doubt he really has an opinion on modchips.
    I liek mudkips.

    Yours sincerently,

        GWB.
    --
    Only three things are certain; death, taxes, and apocryphal quotations - Ben Franklin.