Best Australian Nintendo Wii Community, News, Games, Videos, Competitions, and Forums. Mario Galaxy, Metroid and More!

Wii Hardware \ Nintendo seize more than 10,000 devices in raid

MugaHay
Kudos: 5,818
Mates: 366
Thanks to the intervention of the Hong Kong High Court, Nintendo has stopped a global distribution operation involving game copying devices and modification chips that violate its copyrights and trademarks of both its Nintendo DS and Wii systems, the company has announced.

Nintendo representatives seized more than 10,000 game copying devices and mod chips during a three-day raid of Supreme Factory Limited facilities, which took place starting October 8. The game copying devices are used to copy and play game files offered unlawfully via the Internet, and the mod chips allow for pirated Wii discs or illegal copies of Nintendo games downloaded from the Internet to be played.

The sting also uncovered "volumes of documents" which explained the scope of the operation, tying Supreme Factory Limited to a French company, Divineo SARL, and its principal, Max Louarn, who are both also named in the legal action commenced by the Big N. The companies have been prohibited from further distribution of the offending devices and from disposing a portion of their assets worldwide, with assets having been ordered to be frozen pending the outcome of the legal proceedings.

"Piracy affects the entire video game industry, from large companies to independent developers," said Jodi Daugherty, Nintendo of America's senior director for anti-piracy. "It can destroy years of hard work by a team of very talented software developers, who strive to create games consumers enj
23/10/2007
Resident Evil 4
Canberra
MugaHay
Kudos: 5,818
Mates: 366
enjoy playing. Copying the developers' work and spreading the game files globally is blatant stealing."

It's not just Nintendo who's affected by piracy, of course. More than 100 companies that create, license, market and sell products for Nintendo systems also bear the brunt, and according to Nintendo, it's estimated that these companies lost US$762 million in sales due to counterfeits in 2006.

This latest action is but one of many that Nintendo's initiated over the past years against game copiers and mod chips, and in 2005, it was awarded more than US$5 million in damages from the Hong Kong High Court against Lik Sang, one well-known company responsible for the distribution of game copying devices. Another case saw a US judge order Bung Enterprises to pay Nintendo US$7 million in damages because of its involvement in the manufacturing and distribution of these sorts of products.
23/10/2007
Resident Evil 4
Canberra
hamzie
Kudos: 6,671
Mates: 338
put this in news if u want
23/10/2007
Mario Kart Wii
Kaptain Kay's bed
Nuttermonk
Kudos: 1,256
Mates: 56
I know I'm gonna be mauled by my pirate buddies but... Go Big N! Smack 'em down!
23/10/2007
The spinny chair of doom!, Queensland.
iaculch
Kudos: 2,281
Mates: 40
Arnt modchips legal here though
23/10/2007
Super Smash Bros. Brawl
Sydney, Enfield
syfox133
Kudos: 8,105
Mates: 144
Yeah, it should be. It says in the law that modchips are legal in Aussie.
23/10/2007
Metal Slug Anthology
In the corner of your eye
iaculch
Kudos: 2,281
Mates: 40
sooooo how is this bit of news any relevant to us???
23/10/2007
Super Smash Bros. Brawl
Sydney, Enfield
leeman34
Kudos: 12,454
Mates: 452

iaculch said: sooooo how is this bit of news any relevant to us???

our chips are imported from places like this
23/10/2007
Soul Calibur Legends
I am banned for good reason. All hail Guyver
natty270
Kudos: 3,308
Mates: 430
Therefor could be shortages everywhere
23/10/2007
Super Mario Galaxy
Sydney Australia (Fairfield West) ► Play. ▌▌ Pause. ■ Stop. &&◄ Rewind
Azza123
Kudos: 10,429
Mates: 185
Modchips are perfectly legal in Australia, however, to abide by the law, you are only legally aloud to back-up the games that you own, which is a stupid law because many people just download the games they don't own. I don't own a modchip, I don't want one. I see it only fair if the company that made the game, gets the money.

This is the same with ROMS, if you own the game you can have the ROM, legally. Once you sell/dispose of the game, you don't own the game so, the ROM becomes illegal.
23/10/2007
The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess
''Blades Will Bleed''
phatbass82
Kudos: 14,381
Mates: 352
From what i've heard, in the last couple of years, there has been a major push in a lot of the Asian countries to decrease piracy in their shopping centres.
23/10/2007
Mario and Sonic at the Olympic Games
Gold Coast, Queensland, Australia
ozmodchps
Kudos: 897
Mates: 57

natty270 said: Therefor could be shortages everywhere



maybe for certain products, but not most.
24/10/2007
Melbourne
A2ra3l
Kudos: 917
Mates: 50
Actually ( in the case of ps2, it should be the same for wii) modchips are only legal if you are using them to play imported games. "backing up" as it is called is illegal as it circumvents the games copy protection which (if you read the copyright warnings on everything from dvds to videogames and more) is what they are trying to stop. I believe it goes along the lines of " you agree not to attempt to disable or circumvent the copy protection of this product" or something like that

I mean I'm all for backing up your stuff, I do it myself, stuffed if I'm going to lose $1000's worth of software because some idiot scratched my disks, but it probably wont hold up in court if they raid you and find it
Az

*edit* and by the way, if you can show me a cop or court judge that has nothing illegal in their house. I'll show you their trap door with a map to their little cabin out in the woods with more than you can imagine. They still have, they just know how to hide it better
24/10/2007
Mario Kart Wii
Tasmania
tobissmith
Kudos: 90
Mates: 6
yeah its the same with music downloads, i mean, there illegal but ill bet you every cop who uses a downloader for thier music never thinks twice bout it!
24/10/2007
Next Door, Melbourne
syfox133
Kudos: 8,105
Mates: 144

phatbass82 said: From what i've heard, in the last couple of years, there has been a major push in a lot of the Asian countries to decrease piracy in their shopping centres.

pffft, good luck. china is piracy land.
24/10/2007
Metal Slug Anthology
In the corner of your eye
phatbass82
Kudos: 14,381
Mates: 352

syfox133 said:

pffft, good luck. china is piracy land.



Hehe. I guess it will be harder and harder for a tourist to find though. My Malaysian connection has told me quite a few stores have shutdown now.
24/10/2007
Mario and Sonic at the Olympic Games
Gold Coast, Queensland, Australia
thetooth
Kudos: 1,051
Mates: 76
lol lik sang was awsome
24/10/2007
Super Mario Galaxy
grimace
Kudos: 2,333
Mates: 58
Woohoo, that's awesome news for Nintendo.
24/10/2007
Zack & Wiki: Quest For Barbaros' Treasure
some random suburb in Perth, WA
Krush_Em
Kudos: 277
Mates: 10
Nice work Ninty!!
24/10/2007
Melbourne, Victoria
 
To participate in this discussion, please log in or register.
MyWii Says:

Polls

Games

  • Okami
  • Goosebumps HorrorLand
  • Ant Bully
  • Marvel: Ultimate Alliance

News

Videos

  • Carnival Games - Wii Review
    Carnival Games - Wii Review
  • Mario Galaxy for the wii!!!
    Mario Galaxy for the wii!!!
  • STREET FIGHTER IV - First Trailer!
    STREET FIGHTER IV - First Trailer!
  • Star Fox 64 Gameplay
    Star Fox 64 Gameplay

Best Photos

  • The Geekini
    40 35
  • Show us your B00B5!
    47 33
  • LOL!
    40 23
  • Awkwardness
    15 21
  • Me & Mario
    11 18
  • SJT's Member Wall Part One
    18 16

Blogs

Comments

Everyone is...

Mikaere: [Brawl FC - 2234-9011-6847] Add me if u wanna Brawl!
rouronijohn: i meant "ive met"
rouronijohn: ive Mark Millar(comics writer), Blair Butler(cable personality here, she talks about comics...really cute), Kevin smith, scott mosier, Stan Lee and Bobby lee(mad tv) i love LA
violetv: @beaudot: i know, mark is more experience than kyle, kyle just a big mouth
euro2008: Closing Ceremony: 10PM AEST Got a headache, not feeling well!