UK Courts Rule Nintendo DS R4 Cards Illegal

CheShACat writes "A UK high court ruled today that R4 cards for the Nintendo DS are illegal, finding two vendors guilty of selling 'game copiers.' The ruling by Justice Floyd is quoted as saying, 'The economic effect on Nintendo of the trade in these devices is substantial as each accused device can store and play copies of many Nintendo DS games [...] The mere fact that the device can be used for a non-infringing purpose is not a defence.' No word in the article as to what law in particular they were found to have broken, nor of the penalty the vendors are facing, but this looks like bad news for all kinds of hardware mod, on any platform, that would enable homebrew users to bypass vendor locks." Nintendo won a related lawsuit in the Netherlands recently, in addition to the one in Australia earlier this year.

Comments

Stupid Courts

[b4upoo]

The idea that an item as legitimate uses is not a defense is as stupid as a ruling could get. I use a knife to cut my food. Knives are used in murders. Therefore knives must be held to be illegal even though they have legitimate uses.
                    This is about the most blatant form of corruption a court can display. It is a political posture. They are in effect saying that big business must have power over smaller businesses and individuals which is an absurd and evil conservative posture.
                    The remedy is to make and distribute these items in great excess making certain that piracy increases every time such a position is taken by the state.

Aren't you tired?

[marcello_dl]

I'm tired of simply listening to stories about modders getting in trouble with justice. People buy closed stuff and then spend money or time to crack it, and maybe brick it. Ummm. What about leaving that shiny things on the shelf and use your time for something more constructive?

If there was no DS

[future assassin]

there would be no DS piracy. Nintendo is guilty here of producing a product that causes people to be pirates. Nintendo knew their insecure product would eventually be used as for 100% of piracy on itself. I know I know its amazing how guilty Nintendo is at promoting piracy.