• voracitude@lemmy.world
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    1 year ago

    As reported by Torrent Freak, Ryan Daly, the alleged owner of modding company Modded Hardware, has denied any wrongdoing in court — even that he owns and operates the business at all.

    Daly mostly responded to the lawsuit’s claims by saying “denied” and otherwise claimed he lacked “sufficient information to either admit or deny the allegations.” His defenses include fair use, invalid copyrights, a lack of standing, fraudulent inducement, an arbitration clause, failure to state a claim, and unjust enrichment.

    This guy sounds halfway to SovCit and entirely fucked.

      • voracitude@lemmy.world
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        1 year ago
        1. He’s going to court without a lawyer, which is always always always a bad idea (I wish that weren’t the case but it is a fact);
        2. He’s tried to claim he doesn’t own or operate the business in question;
        3. His defenses are spaghetti thrown at the wall:

        His defenses include fair use, invalid copyrights, a lack of standing, fraudulent inducement, an arbitration clause, failure to state a claim, and unjust enrichment.

        Many of these (in fact, all but the arbitration clause; that’s probably from their TOS but won’t save him) are SovCit arguments and simply do not apply. They’re going to be dismantled in seconds in court, and I know that with at best a slightly-better-than-layperson understanding of the law. This guy is going to get thoroughly Bowser’d.

      • ramble81@lemm.ee
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        1 year ago

        “Wow, Nintendo, way to go, sentencing someone to hard time in prison for trying to enjoy your games in new and unique ways. Is this what you stand for?”

        • Cadeillac@lemmy.world
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          1 year ago

          What are you guys even talking about? He’s going in with out his own lawyers. Not a great idea. No where did I say I want Nintendo to win

          • ramble81@lemm.ee
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            1 year ago

            We don’t want them to win either. The comment was a glib remark that usually people who go in without a lawyer get the book thrown at them. If so, a perfectly plausible outcome is actually being sentenced to jail. If so, that could look very bad for Nintendo. It’s all just hypothetical extrapolation.

            • Cadeillac@lemmy.world
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              1 year ago

              Would the hardcore gaming community be mad if he went to jail? Yes. Are they already mad Nintendo is taking him to court? Yes. Will the general public care at all? No. Will the investors think Nintendo looks bad? No

              Edit: also, is everyone ignoring the fact that he distributed pirated software on the consoles?

            • havocpants@lemm.ee
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              1 year ago

              If so, a perfectly plausible outcome is actually being sentenced to jail

              Not in a civil case, as other commenters pointed out. The plausible outcome will be this guy ceasing his business operations and paying Nintendo.

      • PM_Your_Nudes_Please@lemmy.world
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        1 year ago

        I mean, they landed Gary Bowser in prison for 10 years for something very similar. Dude was just installing mod chips in Switches. He got out after only a few years due to a degenerative disease, (I think he has ALS, but that’s just off the top of my head,) but he still owes Nintendo $10M and they’re basically garnishing 30% of all of his pay for the rest of his life.

  • SplashJackson@lemmy.ca
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    1 year ago

    Pretty sure he got paid by Nintendo to sue them stupidly so they could slam dunk the case and get a precedent that makes it easier for them to oppress developers

  • narc0tic_bird@lemm.ee
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    1 year ago

    The absolute scenes if this guy wins.

    Yuzu devs and others be like “we could’ve easily won?”.

    (I know, not happening)

  • mindbleach@sh.itjust.works
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    1 year ago

    Nintendo Switch Modder Who Refused to Shut Down Now Takes to Court Against Nintendo

    Yeah!

    Without a Lawyer

    … idiot.

  • Atomic@sh.itjust.works
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    1 year ago

    alleging it “not only offers the hardware and firmware to create and play pirated games” but also provides “customers with copies of pirated Nintendo games.”

    I can see a world where he can offer hardware and firmware, with claims of other intended purposes.

    But the second part wherehe provides customers with pirated software is a slam dunk for nintendo.

  • daniskarma@lemmy.dbzer0.com
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    1 year ago

    If they win is going to be a very bad day for Nintendo.

    And it’s not that imposible. As these kind of companies operate on the principle that “small” people would never go to court after them, so they don’t care if they actually have legal ground.

    • Hawk@lemmy.dbzer0.com
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      1 year ago

      The guy even denies he owns his own business, I doubt he’ll do anything worthwhile in court.

      • Honzai@sh.itjust.works
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        1 year ago

        IANAL, but I don’t think he’s claiming he doesn’t own the business, but that the “offers for sale a variety of products and services designed to circumvent and bypass Nintendo’s TPMs” is wrong. The only argument I can see at this point is “The TPM ceases to be Nintendo’s after the customer purchases it”. I have no idea if that’s his angle or if it’s a solid argument.

    • AirBreather@lemmy.world
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      1 year ago

      Anything’s possible, but…

      I have a feeling that the people who are just smart and capable enough to pull this off without any prior legal training or experience are also smart and capable enough to realize how incredibly bad an idea it would be to try in the first place.

      If you’re going to fight the case on principle, then it is a no-brainer to hire at least some sort of legal representation. In terms of expected value, I imagine that it’s practically buying free money, at least up to a point.

    • funkless_eck@sh.itjust.works
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      1 year ago

      I wonder if there’s any side benefits that if Nintendo destroy a mentally ill man’s life, they experience a PR backlash.