Japanese police have made a significant arrest in the fight against video game piracy, marking a first in their efforts to combat hardware modification. A 58-year-old man was arrested on January 15th for allegedly violating the Trademark Act. His crime? Modifying second-hand Nintendo Switch consoles to run pirated games before selling them. The modifications involved welding altered parts onto the consoles' circuit boards, enabling the execution of illegally obtained software. Police allege he loaded 27 pirated games onto each console and sold them for ¥28,000 (approximately $180) each. The suspect has confessed to the charges, and further investigations are underway to determine if additional violations occurred.
This arrest highlights the ongoing battle between video game companies and piracy. Nintendo, in particular, has been actively combating piracy through various legal avenues. A notable example includes a May 2024 takedown request targeting 8,500 copies of the Switch emulator Yuzu, following the emulator's shutdown two months prior. Nintendo's initial lawsuit against Yuzu's creator, Tropic Haze, cited the one million pre-release downloads of The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom as evidence of the emulator's role in piracy.
This case is part of a broader trend of increased legal action against piracy. Previous successes include lawsuits against RomUniverse, resulting in $2.1 million in damages to Nintendo in 2021 and over $12 million in 2018. These actions also extended to blocking the popular GameCube and Wii emulator Dolphin from the Steam platform.
Recently, a Nintendo patent lawyer shed light on the company's strategy regarding emulation and piracy. Koji Nishiura, Assistant Manager of the Intellectual Property Division, clarified that while emulators themselves aren't inherently illegal, their use can become illegal depending on the context, specifically when used to run pirated games.
