Pirates beware! A UK man was sentenced to 12 months of jail time for importing and planning to resell 26,500 R4 DS cartridges. While it is safe to say most pirates use a few less R4 cartridges than the aforementioned offender, pirates should take notice since this shows that authorities are cracking down on video game piracy more than they have in the past.
“Intellectual property theft is an important issue for the country’s video games industry – as is protecting it,” said Michael Rawlinson, Director General of Entertainment and Leisure Software Publisher Association (ELSPA). “We will continue to work with the authorities to prosecute organised IP theft offenders.â€
Planning on importing a few thousand R4 cartridges? You might want to rethink that purchase.
Xelpud
Well, this is an interesting case, as though what many people use the device for is illegal, the device itself seems to be just a blank slate. Anyone know whether the device itself is infringing upon any laws by allowing users to run their own code?
Xelpud
Also, R4 flashcards? Didn’t the R4 team disband a long time ago? (Heck, didn’t Nintendo end up winning a big lawsuit against them?) Most everything on the market now that says R4 is just a cheap knockoff.
Cory
That’s why you don’t sell or give what you get.
SlaughterMelon
Hmm… R4’s are outdated nowadays. Couldn’t he justify the use of the R4 as a homebrew device?
M
In a lot of countries flashcards for the DS are not illegal, playing copied games on it is illegal. And think about this: Why has Nintnedo sold so many DS handhelds? Exactly, flashcards! It is the same as with the PS2, because it could easily be cracked Sony sold so many…
GamesOgre
As a retro video game collector and reseller, this sort of piracy doesn’t seem to do us much good. For example, it always bums me out to come across a “Dreamcast with 20 games for sale” and to find out that all 20 games are just burned copies. 🙁
And since most consoles are sold at a loss hoping to make money on the games, it doesn’t help the industry much.