Mod Chippers Ordered to Pay $9 Million in Fines 94
GameDaily is reporting that that ESA is announcing a major victory against game software piracy in California. A judge has handed down over $9 Million in fines to Divineo Inc., some employees, and international subsidiaries. From the article: "The defendants had apparently violated the DMCA by trafficking mod chips and the HDLoader software application that enables users to copy whole video games to a console's hard drive ... Mod chips then can be used to allow a console to play illegally obtained/pirated games. Both the mod chips and HDLoader application therefore circumvent the copyright protection technology built into video game consoles and video game software and are in direct violation of the DMCA."
Reasonable doubt? (Score:5, Insightful)
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If the company is liquidated they 1) get the company out out of business and 2) some part of the companies' assets. If the company stays in business they get paid off at some percentage depending on the restructuring.
To be honest 9 mil isn't that much to a large company. The main thing is getting these mods off the market.
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Re:Reasonable doubt? (Score:4, Informative)
The Geek never quite seems to grasp the basic distinctions between civil and criminal law.
Civil actions are all about the balance of probabilites, what is more likely than not. There is no burden of proof beyond a reasonable doubt.
Damages under the DMCA are assessed according to a statutory formula:
"At any time before final judgment is entered, a complaining party may elect to recover an award of statutory damages for each violation of [17 U.S.C. 1201] in the sum of not less than $200 or more than $2,500 per act of circumvention, device, product, component, offer, or performance of service, as the court considers just." Hefty award to Sony in action against seller of PlayStation 2 "mod chips" [internetcases.com]
"The amount of damages was calculated by awarding $800 per mod chip sold before June 12, 2004, and the full amount of $2,500 per mod chip sold after June 12, 2004. On that date, Filipiak had signed a stipulated injunction in which he agreed to discontinue sales of the chips and related software. The court concluded that the sales made after Filipiak signed the agreement constituted a willful violation of the DMCA, thus justifying a higher amount of statutory damages."
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The Geek never quite seems to grasp the basic distinctions between civil and criminal law.
And The Lawyer never quite seems to grasp that slashdot is a large community with varying knowledge, experience, ages and opinions.
Most here are quite familiar with the distinction between civil and criminal law. And sometimes have more knowledge of law in non-US jurisdictions than you do.
Broad generalisations are usually wrong.
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It's wrong that an intellectual property creator should not be rewarded for
I have a dream... (Score:5, Insightful)
Re:I have a dream... (Score:5, Insightful)
Or have kids who regularly play on a console swapping out discs 3 or 4 times a day and manage to sratch them to the point of unreadability in a matter of weeks.
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I had a dream, then it was indigestion... (Score:2)
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You know, there's something else that just occurred to me too. What about import games and the chips that let you play those? Again, I'm fairly uninformed, but IIRC that use of a modchip isn't illegal. Are people going to be getting fines for bringing Lunar: The Silver Star Story over so they could hear the Japanese lyrics? How about my friend's brother, who lived in Japan for a year or so, bought all these great semi-old RPGs fo
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I can't even begin to count how many games I've had to rebuy over the years for my XBox simply because the DVD has gotten damaged from continuous use... a situation that would not have happened if I could simply stor
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Since most people aren't smart enough to buy frmo newsgroups/user groups/etc, I don't think the console companies will be motivated for THAT reason. Now, the laziness
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They don't profit if you buy used.
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Isn't that why used games are cheaper? I mean, outside of the not so fresh feeling, that there's no kickback to the studio? I'm not an economist, but it seems logical.
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Consider a game. Imagine that there are 100 people that would pay $30 for the game and a further 20 people that would pay $20 for the game.
Now the 20 people that would pay $20 for the game might consider buying it for $30 if they knew they could resell it for $10 - thus paying $20 in total. i.e. there are people who might pay full price for the goods because they expect to get some money back from resell.
Follow?
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Re:I have a dream... (Score:5, Interesting)
It also makes it easier to run Linux. But the biggest reason that these companies are so strongly against modchips is because it allows software developers to write games for their hardware without paying a royalty to the console manufacturer. Nothing to do with piracy at all, really....
Next stop, 9th circuit, where I suspect this will be overturned swiftly as anti-consumer.
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Re:I have a dream... (Score:4, Insightful)
There must be a million sources. The primary purpose for requiring special encryption and stuff on games has always been to force companies to pay a licensing fee to the console manufacturer. It's well documented. Heck, just read Wikipedia [wikipedia.org] or read about any of the many reverse engineering lawsuits related to Nintendo and other companies over the years.
Technology to crack DVDs is explicitly forbidden under the DMCA, but publishing unencrypted DVDs is quite possible (and done regularly). As seen in the Australian courts (and I think it will hold up in U.S. court if it ever gets high enough), the technologies used in video games are the exact opposite. Instead of protecting the content, they protect the devices against using unprotected content. This is a fundamentally different action by console makers, and one that cannot be justifiably protected by law. Clearly, modding games to not check to see if the game is a legit copy is a DMCA violation. Modding hardware to make it allow you to use unprotected content (which may or may not be pirated) is completely different.
Clueless Judges and Layers. (Score:3, Insightful)
At this point even the lawyers involved can't fully grasp what's going on enough to understand the subtle but important difference you've just outlined (unless theyre from the EFF, then they just don't know how to play the legal game correctly).
The fact that we have such important issues to consumer rights a
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Not if the online game is written correctly. The game has a certain probability of something occurring. If the probability goes more than about a standard deviation outside those bounds, the server can reasonably conclude that something is probably wrong.
For that matter, the more decisions are made on the server, the less relevant the client is. Ideally, for multiplayer games, the client should be a rendering engine and little more. If you do it that way, no amount of client hacking can have a signifi
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Bullshit. The biggest reason these companies are against modchips is because they allow users to steal commercial games instead of having to spend money on them.
Unlicensed software written for game consoles is almost entirely poor quality. Look at the "games" published by Color Dreams/Learning Tree for t
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Unlicensed software written for game consoles is almost entirely poor quality.
You're not asking the right question. The question is how many of the licensed games would be licensed if it were not difficult to publish unprotected games? Probably a lot more than are published now.... With console sold often at a loss, it's not hard to see why this is an issue....
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I hope you're not calling me a pirate. I don't even own a game console (unless you count the Nintendo GBA SP that I won under a Dr. Pepper bottle cap and don't have any games for other than the one that came with it).... :-)
I'm firmly of the opinion that any technology that tries to prevent unsigned or unprotected code form running is evil, and that owners of hardware have a fundamental right to be able to do to it whatever they want, up to and including modding it and running arbitrary software on it.
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So you are saying I am a "pirate" at heart because I want to run SSH and an X Terminal on a DS when I get it? It would make accessing my Linux machines easier. (anyone have some good web pages which might explain how to do this?) I'm sure I'll need a mod chip for that.
Another reason to make modchips illegal: what about manufacturers who want to make compatible consoles. Right now it is probably difficult/illegal--why else have we not seen them. Plenty of people would want to buy a machine which could pla
Re:I have a dream... (Score:4, Insightful)
Yup (Score:2)
Putting mod chips to the side for a moment, I just wish XB/360/PS3 games would allow you to run a HD cache for them. I don't even mind putting the disk in the drive (if a better protection mechanism can't be found). I very rarely seriously play more than one game at a time, so if I could just shove it on the HD it would make everything so much nicer.
Ho-hum.
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But for me, I have kids. The first time a kid uses one of my $40-$60 game CD's for a carpet protector under the chair due to carelessness is the last time I buy a game I can't run from a working copy or off the hard drive with the original locked in a cabinet.
Needless to say, I haven't bought many retail games lately. We stick to games on the PC which run with a No-CD crack or install and run on the hard drive. If there is no crack, t
Next up: PC (Score:1, Interesting)
Only in America.
Export till there's nothing left to export. (Score:3, Insightful)
First I thought the americans were exporting the concept of freedom, but I soon came to realize they're actually giving their own away.
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The American Revolution triggered the fall on monarchy throughout much of Europe. The American Nation cleared both the East and West of three Facist Empires in the 20th Century. American Globalism will lead to the fall of the Chinese dictatorships and Middle Eastern Theocracies in the 21st. Yet the American People's own liberties are eroding. It is time is come for a rebirth of the Enlightenment in the US.
We no longer own the things we buy. (Score:5, Insightful)
However, modding has not started with computers, people have always modded. They modded cars, their houses, their radios, their tools, and anything else they have bought. And all of these mods have potentially illegal uses.
Imagine if Honda struck back against Aftermarket makers, using the DMCA, and telling people that only "Honda certified" parts are allowed in the vehicles honda bought.
I can't help but think that electronics companies are getting a free ride from the government here.
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I really like that analogy, but has that ever happened? Anyone have a lawsuit link or somesuch?
Re:informative? (Score:4, Interesting)
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) or fried the console when attempting to install it.
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Yes. Me.
I installed a modchip in my XBox specifically so that I could run XBMC. I have used it precisely once to play an XBox game which I ripped from a game I purchased to see how it performed. Since then, I have used it exclusively to stream music to my stereo, as the UI is better than any of the other devices I had tried.
I only decided to hack my XBox after I realized I hadn't played games on it in several months.
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Its true that most ppl. use the chips to play illegal copies; still I see that as a problem of media producing companies.
Maybe the U.S. should ban the sales of sport cars, after all, how many sports car owners are race drivers? I might be inclined to think that most of them break the law on a regular basis
And tes, unlike video game pirates, these guys risk human lifes...
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Yes, I know someone. *I* have a modded xbox that I use to play the games that I have purchased so they have a faster load time, you inse
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Though I'm getting back in with the Wii.
However, because of Fair Use and my own experience with CDs that just die, I can see why someone would want to mod their box so they can back up their games to a hard drive. And because of regioning in DVDs, why someone woul
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I guess, I'm with you on the latter aspect: what's so special about an xbox that precludes me from the right to modify it with a "mod chip"?
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Well, like an xbox, some of those things you can't modify, in certain ways, legally. You cannot mod your car anyway you like and still be able to drive it on public roads legally. You cannot modify your house anyway you like, without a permit, and be able to sell it latter. Not to mention your homeowner's insurance cancelling you. So, sure you CAN modify those things, just like a xbox, but is it legal? Not necesarily.
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And yes, you can modify your car as you like as long as you don't drive on public roads which the state controls and therefore can restrict use of (notice how bicycles are not allowed on highways in all/most/some areas). Modifying your house is based on local law, so one generalization is not good for the whole country.
Oftentimes, a building permit to add on to your house is just as much, if not more so, about collecting more
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If Honda did this, the only customers they would have left would be the ignorant and the fanbois.
Car buyers expect choice and become angry when they don't get it.
Free ride??? (Score:2)
Free ride indeed!
Take a Hint (Score:2, Insightful)
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Their business model requires selling the device below market value, then recouping that loss by increasing the cost of games (indirectly through licensing).
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Get Rid of Region Codes (Score:3, Informative)
Nintendo has it right. The GBA and DS are region-free.
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The reality is that exporting culture -- in a book, a game, or a video -- is hard. The stateside market for the region-free console is microscopic.
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And yes, simultaneous global release is something the movie industry should be interested in...
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Nintendo has it wrong. The Wii is region-locked, X360 leaves it up to the publishers, and PS3 is region free.
I'm surprised... (Score:5, Informative)
They won. SFW? How are they going to enforce this ruling in France? From the coverage of this ruling on Ars Technica I know, that the company is still offering those modchips on their web page. And they will. The only thing they can't do now is to visit US. And maybe Iraq or Afghanistan. All of the international treaties about enforcig court rulings abroad have one basic assumption written into them: no party to such treaty shall enforce a court ruling for something that's perfectly legal in the country of residence of defendant party.
Nothing to see here, move along.
Robert
Default Judgment? (Score:3, Informative)
It sounds like the suit wasn't defended. Plus, ESA won't see a dime unless Divineo corporate assets are in the US (which I would doubt). Legault, Lourn, and Divineo UK are not subject to personal jurisdiction in the US, and any judgment against them most likely won't be enforceble in their home countries. I would guess Legault and Lourn didn't appear in the US to defend the suit. If the above is true, this case has absolutely no precedential value, despite what the ESA claims. Plus its a N.D.Ca decision, so even if it was a fully litigated case, this "precedent" is only be binding in that judicial district.
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It should be required to have presence of company representative at these hearings, otherwise the case sho
Console Makers Can Thank The ESA... (Score:2)
For that matter, if the consoles an
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Yeah, really. I have a first-gen PS2 (the old thicker-styled one with seperate networking module add-on) that I bought a few years ago for $20, and that will almost certainly be my last game console ever, precisely beacause of all this type of B.S.. They've convinced me they really don't want to sell me anything, so I'll take them at their word.
Cheers!
Strat
Looks like I better get that HDLoader ordered (Score:1)
authoritative ignorance (Score:2)
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*sigh* Hooray for assuming we're all criminals. (Score:2)
Why this is a bad decision from a legal standpoint (Score:1)
Next up... (Score:2)