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xbox modchips legal in UK

mrklaw

MrArseFace
link


MrModchips, a supplier of xbox modchips in the UK was taken to court a while back. He has just been found not guilty and had all legal costs awarded. The court said that

"The granting of this appeal based on the argument that the copyright infringement has already taken place before the use of a modchip "


Where will this leave Sony/MS/Nintendo etc with regards to backups?
 

alistairw

Just so you know, I have the best avatars ever.
Won't change a thing. They're legal in Australia, and have been for quite some time, and nothing's changed. Copyright is copyright.
 

Gowans

Member
On the edge of my city there an a number a shops that have advertised console modding for years now think they sell DS cards too.

Its rife hear, I would be behind it if they were for legit reasons removing customer restrictions as I think if you own a device you should be able to do whatever you want with it but sadly they are only used for piracy.
 
Gowans007 said:
On the edge of my city there an a number a shops that have advertised console modding for years now think they sell DS cards too.

Its rife hear, I would be behind it if they were for legit reasons removing customer restrictions as I think if you own a device you should be able to do whatever you want with it but sadly they are only used for piracy.

Where do you live? I've never seen a shop selling modchips in the UK, but then I get nose bleeds north of London so rarely venture "up north"
 

Gowans

Member
mr_bishiuk said:
Where do you live? I've never seen a shop selling modchips in the UK, but then I get nose bleeds north of London so rarely venture "up north"

Up North, Sunderland.

Just on the edge of the city theres a cheap shop road that has a tonne of places and the worlds most dodgy shops.
 

Haunted

Member
callous said:
As far as I know, it's not really illegal anywhere but in the US, so this won't change a thing.
Pretty much.

It's legal in most of Europe, afaik. I know it's in Germany.
 
Gowans007 said:
Up North, Sunderland.

Just on the edge of the city theres a cheap shop road that has a tonne of places and the worlds most dodgy shops.

I suppose if they are legal then why not?!
 

alistairw

Just so you know, I have the best avatars ever.
Yeah, it's not great that the average user only has them installed for piracy, but they do have legitimate uses. I've only ever used my PS2 chip for import games.
 

Cynar

Member
Drkirby said:
Oh, this reminds me, recently Canada has made efforts to try and pass law to ban modchips. Though I think it did fail to go though:
http://gbatemp.net/index.php?showtopic=89135

yea, it failed thankfully. I really hate how the US keeps on attempting to export their copyright laws to other countries. They're trying again though in Canada, they seem to do this every few years but they actually have a chance now with a Conservative minority. :(

There is a letter you can copy and paste to email or fill in the fields on the site to have it sent to the people in charge.

http://www.ccer.ca/send-a-letter-to-harper-prentice-verner-and-stop-the-canadian-dmca/

I sent one to each of those MP's plus my local MP to see their responses.
 
In europe modchips are legal. As well as DS cartidges and so on. You can do whatever you want with a system, even if you break the warranty. The only ilegal thing is selling pirated software. Even selling or installing modchips is advertised and legal.
 

Xavien

Member
I believe mod-chips became Illegal in the UK after Sony took a company to court about PS2 mod-chips, the Judge ruled in Sony's favour and thus they became Illegal.

This ruling however seems to have overruled that previous decision and I'll finally get my Wii mod-chipped so i can play US games, instead of waiting months for NoE to release their games (which i don't need translated in 50 different languages anyway).
 

Anony

Member
no, they're introducing the bill today

OTTAWA, June 11, 2008 -- The Honourable Jim Prentice, Minister of Industry, and the Honourable Josée Verner, Minister of Canadian Heritage, Status of Women and Official Languages, and Minister for La Francophonie, will deliver brief statements and answer media inquiries shortly after the tabling of a bill to amend the Copyright Act. Members of the media will also be able to attend a technical briefing and lock-up prior to the tabling of the bill to amend the Copyright Act.

Date: Thursday, June 12, 2008

Lock-up and technical briefing for media

Location:
Press Theatre
National Press Building
150 Wellington Street
Ottawa, Ontario

Time:
9:30 a.m. (media registration for lock-up and technical briefing)
9:45-10:40 a.m. (lock-up -- media only)

etcetc
http://www.boingboing.net/2008/06/11/canadian-industry-mi-1.html
http://www.ic.gc.ca/cmb/welcomeic.nsf/0365f77a8a847e1e8525655d006e1f91/85256a5d006b9720852574650065cf5b!OpenDocument
 

Doytch

Member
Anony said:
no, they're introducing the bill today

OTTAWA, June 11, 2008 -- The Honourable Jim Prentice, Minister of Industry, and the Honourable Josée Verner, Minister of Canadian Heritage, Status of Women and Official Languages, and Minister for La Francophonie, will deliver brief statements and answer media inquiries shortly after the tabling of a bill to amend the Copyright Act. Members of the media will also be able to attend a technical briefing and lock-up prior to the tabling of the bill to amend the Copyright Act.

Date: Thursday, June 12, 2008

Lock-up and technical briefing for media

Location:
Press Theatre
National Press Building
150 Wellington Street
Ottawa, Ontario

Time:
9:30 a.m. (media registration for lock-up and technical briefing)
9:45-10:40 a.m. (lock-up -- media only)

etcetc
http://www.boingboing.net/2008/06/11/canadian-industry-mi-1.html
http://www.ic.gc.ca/cmb/welcomeic.nsf/0365f77a8a847e1e8525655d006e1f91/85256a5d006b9720852574650065cf5b!OpenDocument

I hope this shit dies as quickly as his last attempt in December. Seriously, the only reason this dickwad is pushing this now is because he won't have to deal with any of the fallout since he's leaving.

If there's one thing I hate about the US, it's that they cave so hard to big business, and then try to push other countries to do the same.
 

borghe

Loves the Greater Toronto Area
Modchips violate no actual copyright laws in the US. What they violate is the DMCA (which is far far far from an actual law based in copyright). So as long as other countries don't adopt anything as infringing and fascist as DMCA they should be fine.
 
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