Tag Archives: illegal

Nintendo wins Dutch piracy case

Wii and DS platform holder Nintendo is celebrating a significant legal victory in the Netherlands after 11 retailers were convicted of acting unlawfully by importing and selling DS R4 cards and Wii mod chips. The retailers had claimed that Nintendo’s objections were an act of unfair competition – a claim …

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Switzerland passes violent games ban

Just a month after the proposals were first outlined in full, the Swiss National Council has now officially passed a law that will ultimately lead to the complete ban of any violent video games in the country. GamesMarkt reports that the full implications of the ruling will not be known …

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Violent games outlawed in Venezuela

Having begun its journey through the Venezuelan court system last August, violent video games have now officially been banned in the formally Spanish-owned South American republic. Games Thirst reports that the Law for the Prohibition of Violent Video Games and Toys came into effect last Wednesday that prohibits the sale, …

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IsoHunt downed by copyright lawyers

Though Christmas day is behind us, IP holders have been given a late festive present with news that another high-profile BitTorrent site – Gary Fung’s IsoHunt – has been closed following a successful prosecution in California. A US District Court judge found that Fung and his site had infringed copyright …

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Courts strike modchip blow

In a move that could prove an important milestone in the battle against console modding, the Court of Appeal has dismissed an appeal by Worcestershire-based modchip seller Christopher Gilham. Gilham was found guilty of selling modchips in late 2008 but later challenged the assumption that playing copied games on a …

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Pirates "spend more on content"

In what will surely encourage the self-validating conscience of illicit file-sharers, a new study has concluded that people who pirate digital content end up spending more on it than those who don’t. A survey commissioned by the think-tank group Demos showed that broadband users who never pirate material each spend …

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7m Brits download illegally

The Strategic Advisory Board for Intellectual Property claims that seven million UK residents have illegally downloaded files from the internet in the last 12 months, with the cumulative value of the stolen material estimated to be 120bn. It adds that 1.3m people use a file-sharing network at least once a …

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Pirate Bay prosecutors call for jail term

As the trial of the owners of BitTorrent site The Pirate Bay enters its third week , prosecutors have called for a one-year jail term to be imposed on the men in the dock. Frederik Neij, Carl Lundstom, Peter Sunde and Gottfrid Warg are all accused of promoting copyright infringement …

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Belgium outlaws game rentals

The UK trade is familiar with the arguments surrounding the knock-on effects of the rampant trade-in market on the UK High Street – but Belgium authorities have decided to instead clamp down on game rentals in an effort to help the games industry. Kotaku reports that stockists in Belgium have …

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