Lawsuit?

[Gaikokujin]

I live in Japan. Have been using SXOS and was banned from the start while trying to get the exfat update. I had no games on the SD cards then. Since then, I have been gaming, using the SXOS stealth option, wifi on to transfer games with FTP. All games are dumps without certificates, or roms I found online. Any risks of Nintendo having logged the content of SD card? Would a lawsuit be likely if they did keep a log? (I know it feels over dramatic, but I still want opinions).

Édit: after posting here I found this article from Kotaku

https://kotaku.com/game-modding-illegal-in-japan-punishable-by-prison-and-1831525943

And then, this rebuke on reddit


I already had a bad day. Just need someone to tell me that just because I was banned for using CFW, the cops won’t break down my door in the middle of the night! Thanks.

 

[MorningBlunt]

You'll be fine, relax. I mean you got more to worry about in Japan if they specifically say no modding, but I guess it's like doing drugs in your home. If you're quiet and not drawing attention to yourself, who's going to come looking?

 

[nofeloniesyet]

I understand your fear of getting in trouble.

If you pirated video games then technically you broke the law.

That is the risk you took.

and it is against the rules here to talk about piracy,consider this a warning.

 

[gavin_darkglide]

I dont know the first thing about the laws in Japan, but I can say that in the US modding is only illegal if you are using modified code that you dont legally have access to. Such as 360 glitch images, since it is a modified version of microsofts code. From what I can tell in the switch scene, these patches are applied in ram on top of the original nintendo code. This is not illegal here. On the 360 images, they are applied to the image that is already there from SMC to kernel, which you then redistribute, which make this image illegal. You can use this for reference material, as Nintendo tried to pull this back in the late 80's, early 90's: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lewis_Galoob_Toys,_Inc._v._Nintendo_of_America,_Inc.

The custom switch firmwares are essentially the same thing, excepting instead of patching game variables, it patches the systems OS itself. Since all of the CFW's use homebrew boot loaders, these patches can be applied to ram and can run off the sdcard, so technically you cant claim that is illegal, as no modified nintendo code has been released. On top of that, if it were illegal here, dont you think that Microsoft, the assholes that bought github would have not shut down the Atmosphere repository? Especially since it being on a site they own could get them sued by a competitor? The only thing I can tell that would be illegal in the switch scene would be piracy, which nintendo says that emulators like retroarch apply to that as well, even without roms. :facepalm:

 

[Gaikokujin]

and it is against the rules here to talk about piracy,consider this a warning.

Understood.

You'll be fine, relax. I mean you got more to worry about in Japan if they specifically say no modding, but I guess it's like doing drugs in your home. If you're quiet and not drawing attention to yourself, who's going to come looking?

Funny you should mention drugs. Japan is extremely tough on any kind of illegal substances. Hypocritical considering daily alcoholism is so wide spread, and tobacco prevention is a joke. But yes, I am keeping to myself, not sharing what I am doing with anyone around me.

I understand your fear of getting in trouble.

If you pirated video games then technically you broke the law.

That is the risk you took.

You are right. I was aware of copyrights/intellectual property laws before I modded but but had not learned about the anti-modding law.

 

[Gaikokujin]

I dont know the first thing about the laws in Japan, but I can say that in the US modding is only illegal if you are using modified code that you dont legally have access to. Such as 360 glitch images, since it is a modified version of microsofts code. From what I can tell in the switch scene, these patches are applied in ram on top of the original nintendo code. This is not illegal here. On the 360 images, they are applied to the image that is already there from SMC to kernel, which you then redistribute, which make this image illegal. You can use this for reference material, as Nintendo tried to pull this back in the late 80's, early 90's: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lewis_Galoob_Toys,_Inc._v._Nintendo_of_America,_Inc.

The custom switch firmwares are essentially the same thing, excepting instead of patching game variables, it patches the systems OS itself. Since all of the CFW's use homebrew boot loaders, these patches can be applied to ram and can run off the sdcard, so technically you cant claim that is illegal, as no modified nintendo code has been released. On top of that, if it were illegal here, dont you think that Microsoft, the assholes that bought github would have not shut down the Atmosphere repository? Especially since it being on a site they own could get them sued by a competitor? The only thing I can tell that would be illegal in the switch scene would be piracy, which nintendo says that emulators like retroarch apply to that as well, even without roms. :facepalm:

Wow, thanks for a very complete and astute answer. That makes a lot of sense!

 

[Noms]

I live in Japan. Have been using SXOS and was banned from the start while trying to get the exfat update. I had no games on the SD cards then.

As I understand it the law in Japan is that it is illegal to offer modding services - i.e. modding a switch for someone else.

It is NOT illegal to modify a switch which belongs to you.

So, if you were banned, it wasn't for modding your switch

Please correct me if I am wrong

 

[gavin_darkglide]

As I understand it the law in Japan is that it is illegal to offer modding services - i.e. modding a switch for someone else.

It is NOT illegal to modify a switch which belongs to you.

So, if you were banned, it wasn't for modding your switch

Please correct me if I am wrong

If you were banned it is most definitly for modding your switch. Just because modding the console in such a way where you do not use nintendos code, that is redistributed, it is not illegal. This does not mean you didnt break Nintendo's terms of service by modding your console, so legally since you broke the contract you agreed to when you turned it on, and they can ban you, and there is no legal precident to fight them on this, as by clicking the I agree box on signup, you essentially signed a contract. which gets you in to other law issues.