Italian YouTuber under investigation over reviews of Anbernic Consoles

Davevil

Davevil

Late October Surprise


Italian YouTuber Once Were Nerd, known for his retro gaming content, is under investigation by the Guardia di Finanza for allegedly violating copyright laws. The case centers on his reviews of Chinese handheld consoles—like those from Anbernic—that often come preloaded with pirated games from companies such as Nintendo and Sony. Authorities seized over 30 consoles and his smartphone, citing Article 171-ter of Italy's copyright law, which penalizes the promotion or distribution of unauthorized content. While the creator insists his videos were purely reviews, not endorsements, the case has sparked concern across Italy's tech and gaming creator community, raising questions about the legal boundaries of emulation and retro gaming conte
 
I mean, isn't that more on Anbernic for including roms with their handhelds?
 
Is emulation not legal in Italy? Because as far as I know it's legal here in the US but your supposed to be sourcing your own roms from your own games.

From the retro YouTubers that I watch here in the US what they do is that they only show Emulation for games that they actually own, they try to avoid showing Nintendo first party games as much as possible, and they don't blatantly show the plethora of games that might ship with the device but do call out it as a bad thing whenever it happens.

So was he blatantly promoting/showing the games that came with the device or what?
 
Last edited:
Sounds like complete BS on the Italian police part. They should have been going after Anbernic if they are worried about piracy and not a random YouTuber just reviewing the devices.
 
wrong thread lol.

"Chinese handheld consoles—like those from Anbernic—that often come preloaded"

So do Anbernic come preloaded or not? Or are they just being lumped in with souljer boy because China
 
Last edited:
So instead of going after the company that is selling pirated roms, they go after a youtuber that talks about it?
Are the Italian police really this stupid?
 
Dacvak said:
I mean, isn't that more on Anbernic for including roms with their handhelds?
Click to expand...

Both are in the wrong, he knows full well that the games on those Chinese consoles are pirated, so unless you completely wiped that console, dumped your own roms and then put those on there then he shouldn't be showing it off on YouTube really. And, well, China is China, good luck doing anything about it.

Edit: vaibhavpisal vaibhavpisal is correct, they dont come preloaded, only the emulators + software to add your own roms, but no doubt there are resellers preloading these, and, well, maybe he is adding loads of games himself.
 
Last edited:
I think those preloaded consoles are cool. I know they are a copyright violation but that is on the seller not the consumer.
 
Peroroncino said:
Clown show - they should stick to admiring Tifa.
Click to expand...
Understand Captain America GIF
 
And some people still think the Steam Deck is a serious rival for the Switch. Not even mentioned in a legal case against emulation of old games.

Jokes aside, the whole thing sounds sketchy. It has not been disclosed who alerted the Finance Police, at least not to the YouTuber. This alone makes it unlikely that it was the likes of Nintendo or Sony, who usually send C&D alerts before taking legal action against small fish. But this is Italy, so maybe these things work differently here. Still, it's natural to any Italian to suspect that the dude was denounced by somebody who had a beef with him and just wanted to mess up his life because they could.

winjer said:
So instead of going after the company that is selling pirated roms, they go after a youtuber that talks about it?
Are the Italian police really this stupid?
Click to expand...
They're not stupid. They just need something to do, and going against small people who just try to get on with their life is infinitely easier than going after big fish who will never get a sentence, or will get everything pardoned anyway. The average Giuseppe will get scared shitless for a while because the Finance Police always considers you guilty until proven innocent, and will take anything from you that they want for their investigations.

In the video the YouTuber speaks about how no less than SIX agents of the FP came looking for him - three at his home, three at his mother's. They took 30-something retro handhelds from him, plus maybe hard disks and such. They took his phone, too. He implored them not to, because he uses his phone for work. They took it anyway, saying he could get it back in a few days. This being Italy, he got his phone back two full months later, so he had to buy another in the meantime.

According to the official complaint he received, the dude risks jail time and a fine of up to €15,000.
If I were to bet on who denounced him, my money would be on some person he knows who learned that he makes money reviewing emulation devices on YT. This person probably got envious and denounced the YouTuber on the basis that he may have done something illegal. It certainly wouldn't be the first time in Italy.
 
Robb said:
If it comes pre-loaded with the software and it's currently legal to import the product into the country I don't really get the issue.
Click to expand...
I doubt that it is legal to import any device that is loaded with illegal software. I guess it is just not controlled, since the device itself is just declared as an "eletronic entertainment system" or whatever which is legal. Coming along with thousands of electronic toothbrushes, electronic shavers, electronic face cleaners, e-reader-,netbooks, laptops, mini PCs, in a price range that probably is not priority at all. That there is illegal stuff on its SD-card or SSD or wherever is hardly advertised as such, probably just says "comes with 10000 games" on the page where it is sold and on the box. But anyone with half a brain should know that those probably are not 10000 actual freeware games, but most likely Nintendo stuff and also PS and PSP games or whatever runs on it.
Kinda weird that not only aliexpress but also amazon has eg R36s listed while that device is most likely pirating copyrighted stuff.

Personally I just would not review a device that kinda obviously shits on copyright laws and its selling point is mostly the illegal software and not the hardware itself. Every PC can do illegal roms as well, but no one is selling those in that way. Hence those are safe, I guess.
No idea why they needed to seize anything from that guy. They just need to rule if reviewing is equal to endorsing/advertising even if he might have said the opposite in a remark about the included content and 99% of the video was about the hw.
 
I'm not surprised about Guardia di Finanza being retarded.

Six people from Guardia di Finanza seized a lot of his stuff + data for reviewing a device that can be bought online, talk about wasting resources when the country is going into the shitter.
 
Calverz said:
They don't. Often it's the resellers that add them in.
Click to expand...
Yes they do. Go to their website. Usually two models. One with a card and one without. Even the internal storage has ROMs. My 'brother' has them and I've verified this. But I'm in the camp of...if these games are not sold or available anymore then they are fair game.......until they become available to sell (if at all)
 
Anyone showing off emulated Ninty games on these kind of devices on mass-consumer media platforms are playing with fire, and even more so now that they've just released a console as their Ninja-lawyers gets extra blood hungry to send a message.
 
Buying an Anbernic with pre-loaded games (which should be possible for those imported directly from China) or even showing emulated games on such a device is always asking for trouble, unless you live in a country with loose or non-existent copyright laws.

What's funny is that Anbernic devices (and other Chinese handhelds) started to appear in European stores and they can now be purchased with a warranty without having to import them from aliexpress (it would still be cheaper though). Obviously they're all 'clean' and it's up to you to upload the roms or install an alternative OS.
 
Last edited:
They want to sell on Amazon to the consumer who doesn't have any other knowledge, so they include a preloaded card. If they don't include a card, that limits their audience. If they only sell on Aliexpress/etc. then they won't be making much money at all.

Regardless, you can go on Best Buy's website right now and purchase three separate higher-end Anbernic handhelds that include a 128GB SSD. I figure most enthusiasts wouldn't buy there, so who is that for? People who don't want to shop at Amazon?

Any way you slice it, they are trapped.
 
Last edited:
It's weird.

If something whoever sells consoles bundled with pirated games should be the one chased, not a small youtuber reviewing them with 45K subs.

Unless in addition to review them, he also provided links to download roms of legally protected games.
 
Last edited:
The companies are unquestionably and objectively engaging in illegal conduct when it comes to loading the games up with ROMs.

I don't know anything about Italy's laws but if the law says you can't promote this stuff, and he is promoting it, then he's breaking the law. Their country their laws.
 
Last edited:
Evil Calvin said:
Yes they do. Go to their website. Usually two models. One with a card and one without. Even the internal storage has ROMs. My 'brother' has them and I've verified this. But I'm in the camp of...if these games are not sold or available anymore then they are fair game.......until they become available to sell (if at all)
Click to expand...
Ah I see. I last got one about 5 years ago through a reseller. Didn't realise ambernic selling them direct. I assume they don't actually state on the site that they contain Roms? Like just the sizes? Then magically you find all the Roms on them on delivery? Lol
 
But several days ago some 🐔 members told me that emulation is legal as hell!

adamsapple

Thread 'Do YOU think Emulation is the same as Piracy ?'

I've read this debated over the years online, on GAF I've often read people who have agreed to the notion that companies like Nintendo shutting down Emulators is good because emulation is first and foremost used for piracy.

I want to present this question to you, yes you, the Neogaf user.
 
Dude or AI on reddit said this:

With that said, why Italy? A couple reasons, perhaps.

- Italy has dated copyright laws--the one in the article is from the 1940s, well before digital technology. It carries criminal penalties, not just fines, which makes it a preferable ground for big name companies.

- Fear: because it allows criminal prosecution and jail time, journalism will report on that. Reviewers and community members will most likely be thinking "how could this affect me?".

- Italy doesn't require the accuser to be disclosed pre-trial. This alone makes it much easier for copyright holders to act quietly and discreetly, and avoid a PR backlash. If nothing comes of the investigation, then there's virtually no proof they initiated one, and so there's almost zero risk with greater reward.

- Italy's government has a reputation for cooperation with copyright accusers; it's an easier buy-in than many other countries.
Click to expand...
 
Last edited:
Parazels said:
But several days ago some 🐔 members told me that emulation is legal as hell!

adamsapple

Thread 'Do YOU think Emulation is the same as Piracy ?'

I've read this debated over the years online, on GAF I've often read people who have agreed to the notion that companies like Nintendo shutting down Emulators is good because emulation is first and foremost used for piracy.

I want to present this question to you, yes you, the Neogaf user.
Click to expand...
Emulation is legal. Using pirates ROMs is not. It's not that difficult to understand the difference.
 
Parazels said:
But several days ago some 🐔 members told me that emulation is legal as hell!

adamsapple

Thread 'Do YOU think Emulation is the same as Piracy ?'

I've read this debated over the years online, on GAF I've often read people who have agreed to the notion that companies like Nintendo shutting down Emulators is good because emulation is first and foremost used for piracy.

I want to present this question to you, yes you, the Neogaf user.
Click to expand...

This thread has done nothing to change this. The fuck you talking about lol
 
AJUMP23 said:
I think those preloaded consoles are cool. I know they are a copyright violation but that is on the seller not the consumer.
Click to expand...
Well, I dont think that is totally true, depending on the laws of that country. In many countries it is illegal to purchase stolen (in this case pirated) goods and in this case there wont be a grey area about 'oh I didn't know they are stolen'.
 
Deft Beck said:
They want to sell on Amazon to the consumer who doesn't have any other knowledge, so they include a preloaded card. If they don't include a card, that limits their audience. If they only sell on Aliexpress/etc. then they won't be making much money at all.

Regardless, you can go on Best Buy's website right now and purchase three separate higher-end Anbernic handhelds that include a 128GB SSD. I figure most enthusiasts wouldn't buy there, so who is that for? People who don't want to shop at Amazon?

Any way you slice it, they are trapped.
Click to expand...
He didn't have to make a video about it though did he? if he hadn't then no-one would know he has one and so wouldn't care. This is a risk he took on himself and by uploading his videos, no matter what he says, will influence people to buying them therefore he is promoting them.
 
vaibhavpisal said:
Anbernic devices don't come loaded with ROMs afaik.

Some other device makers could be doing it.
Click to expand...
Yes they do, quite a few thousand ROMs depending on the config you order.
diffusionx said:
The companies are unquestionably and objectively engaging in illegal conduct when it comes to loading the games up with ROMs.

I don't know anything about Italy's laws but if the law says you can't promote this stuff, and he is promoting it, then he's breaking the law. Their country their laws.
Click to expand...
That's a good point. Follow the local laws or work to change them. Most enthusiasts that use these devices wipe the ROMs and install their own SD card and change the OS.
Calverz said:
Ah I see. I last got one about 5 years ago through a reseller. Didn't realise ambernic selling them direct. I assume they don't actually state on the site that they contain Roms? Like just the sizes? Then magically you find all the Roms on them on delivery? Lol
Click to expand...
They state how many ROMs each comes with, yes.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Similar threads

Handheld GAF. Would you recommend the Anbernic RG40XX?
24
1K
ReBurn replied
Nintendo Is Being Sued Over Bricking Switch 2 Consoles (In Brazil)
2
74
864
Trogdor1123 replied
Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 has sold over 785K copies on Steam and over 350K copies on PlayStation consoles
2 3
123
3K
Hector Hall replied
Brazilian government notifies Nintendo over abusive, anti-consumer practices in new EULA that allows bricking of consoles
News  2
75
2K
Gp1 replied
[GamersNexus] The Death of Affordable Computing | Tariffs Impact & Investigation
Business Hardware  2 3
116
2K
Heimdall_Xtreme replied
Top Bottom