Crack the console? It is not always illegal

Nintendo consoles, like those of other brands, have a system of protection to prevent the use of illegal copies of video games, which also prevents the use of unauthorized software and multimedia content. PCBox, now Recoverybios, sells Wii, Ds and Ds Lite modified (or cracked, as they say) online in order to disable this protection. It is therefore inevitable that the two companies have long been engaged in a legal battle, because the Japanese believe that PCBox devices are mainly used to run counterfeit games, while for PCBox Nintendo wants to prevent the use of independent software to play films. , videos and MP3 files on consoles, to keep a tight grip on the content market for its consoles.

The Court of Milan, hearing the case, turned to the European Court of Justice asking to clarify the extent of the legal protection that the Super Mario company can avail of, pursuant to the directive on the harmonization of copyright. And the surprising answer is that, in some circumstances, it may be legal to circumvent Nintendo’s locks. In fact, the Court stresses that legal protection “includes only technological measures intended to prevent or eliminate unauthorized acts” of reproduction or distribution of works for which the authorization of the owner of a copyright is required. But this legal protection must respect the principle of proportionality,

“Nintendo – reads a statement released yesterday – will continue to fully engage with the Court of Milan in order to reach a reasoned decision under examination in the civil case against PCBox. Furthermore, given that Nintendo always and only uses necessary and proportionate protective measures to prevent widespread intellectual property piracy, and given that the overriding goal of the circumvention devices marketed by PCBox is to allow piracy of legitimate video games, Nintendo is confident that the application of the guidelines established by the Court of Justice of the European Union on proportionality will allow the Court of Milan to establish that the sale of circumvention devices is illegal ”. Meanwhile, the note concludes,

It is now up to the Court of Milan to analyze the way in which Nintendo’s DRM systems and the modchips sold by PCBox are used. First of all, it is necessary to clarify whether it would be technically possible (and at what cost) to take specific content protection measures, capable of “causing less interference with the activities of third parties who do not need the authorization of the copyright owner or less these activities, while providing similar protection for the rights of the aforementioned owner “. We also need to investigate how often users actually use modified consoles to run counterfeit games. In other European countries, such as Spain and France, jurisprudence has already recognized for years the value of modchips and the existence of a legal content market for Nintendo consoles that goes beyond the official one. The basic criterion is that the purchaser of a product must be free to use it in the widest and most satisfactory way possible, and protection systems such as those adopted by the Japanese on their consoles can prevent them from fully enjoying this right.

 

 

by Abdullah Sam
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