Hi everyone – I’m sorry there’s been a few months gap since the last games law update, but it’s been pretty busy in my personal life and I’m afraid my assiduous squirreling away of useful links for you suffered. Here’s October 2012 in brief to help make amends…
Tag: security
Thoughts on the WoW Glider appeal
A US appeal court has upheld the illegality of WoW Glider, a high-profile and profitable bot for Blizzard’s World of Warcraft (hat-tip to Nic Suzor). The case is important both for its implications for bot use generally in MMOs as well as for a number of other legal points for games companies which come out… Continue reading Thoughts on the WoW Glider appeal
Setback for Jagex in Runescape lawsuit
Jagex, developer of the popular browser MMO, has suffered setbacks in its ongoing lawsuit against Impulse Software, the maker of a bot for Runescape called the “iBot”. This follows attempts in 2009 by Runescape to take legal action against a gang of UK phishers. First, a quick summary Impulse’s bot (like most bots) allows players… Continue reading Setback for Jagex in Runescape lawsuit
Nintendo v Playables – the latest modchip case considered
It seems that Nintendo is on a mission to gun down modchip sellers at the moment. I posted in May 2010 that Nintendo was suing New York-based modchip seller NXP Games, Inc. The 1709 Blog has just reported that Nintendo has successfully just sued another modchip seller in Holland. And, last week, Nintendo won a… Continue reading Nintendo v Playables – the latest modchip case considered
Nintendo sues another modchip reseller
GamePolitics reports that Nintendo is suing NXPGame Inc, New York based reseller of Nintendo DS modchips, as well as its owner apparently. It is seeking $150,000 for infringement of each copyright work and $2 million for infringement of each Nintendo trademark. We’ve previously discussed the legality of modchips on this blog. In the UK, the… Continue reading Nintendo sues another modchip reseller
Teen convicted of crashing PlayStation site in banhammer
In March this year we wrote about a Pennsylvania teenager who pleaded guilty to criminal offences over his hacking and crashing of a Playstation web site in 2008, which he did in revenge for being kicked out of a tournament for the PS2 game SOCOM US Navy Seals for using a cheat mod. Now, Nukezilla reports that the teenager has been… Continue reading Teen convicted of crashing PlayStation site in banhammer
Sony faces class action over Other OS removal
Gamesindustry.biz reports on a Californian class action against Sony Computer Entertainment following its recent removal of the Other OS functionality from the PlayStation 3. I talked to them about it here. Follow us at http://www.twitter.com/gamerlaw or subscribe to our weekly email newsletter here
Teen admits crashing Playstation site in banhammer revenge
Thanks to Kotaku for this one: a US teen has pleaded guilty to criminal offences over his hacking and crashing of a Playstation web site in 2008, which he did in revenge for being kicked out of a tournament for the PS2 game SOCOM US Navy Seals for using a cheat mod. Apparently, he carried out his attack by infecting the… Continue reading Teen admits crashing Playstation site in banhammer revenge
Nintendo ‘wins’ Australian modchip lawsuit, but are modchips actually illegal Down Under?
GamePolitics reports that the Australian Federal Court “has ordered RSJ IT Solutions, operators of the website GadgetGear, to stop selling R4 mod chips for the Nintendo DS and to pay Nintendo $520,000 AU in damages“. You might fairly assume from that headline that modchips are illegal in Australia. Not so. When we previously discussed the… Continue reading Nintendo ‘wins’ Australian modchip lawsuit, but are modchips actually illegal Down Under?
Are modchips illegal?
[This article was first posted on Gamaustra here] This article is about modchips: is their sale/use illegal or not? We look at three recent cases in England, Spain and France – which show an interesting divergence of European opinion as to the legality of modchips: not every country thinks that modchips are a bad thing. … Continue reading Are modchips illegal?