http://www.mrmodchips.co.uk/catalog/ MrMod Chips was today cleared of all 26 counts of copyright infringement. Kotaku
Good news, although I never thought sticking a mod chip in a console itself is ilegal. I chipped my original xbox so I could get DVD playback out of the console without having to pay for a remote control to unlock the DVD player. Also so I could play back mpegs ont he hard drive.
I'd go with no as the severs are based in the US and they're a lot more anal about things like this. But I'd wait for official confirmation.
The servers are now based in the UK, but I doubt that we'll be allowed to discuss modchips since bit-tech don't want to risk getting sued :S
I'd have thought discussion of it is allowed, in the same way discussion on homebrew DS games is. Actively encouraging or describing how to make illegal copies of games run on a chipped console, maybe not so much...
I wouldn't imagine that Microsoft, Nintendo or indeed any on the big players will simply sit back and accept this. I can see an appeal coming soon and we will not have heard that last of this.
Well the judge was correct, mod chipping itself does not constitute breaking of copyright. It's down to to people that copy the games and distribute then that break the copyright protection.
Having a modchipped console is really no different to having a DVD-rw in your computer, a tape-to-tape ghetto blaster, or having an internet connection which allows you to download songs. This judgement makes sense, I don't really see how anyone could think of it another way.
Pretty much, it's the hacked firmwares that are illegal, but the chips themselves and modifying the hardware is now legal. EDIT: FFS Hiren's login not Bindi..
Nope, most modchips bypass the firmware and bios. The only way to defeat them is constant hardware revisions, see xbox. Versions 1.0-1.5a all work with the same modchips but the latest version 1.6b are un-flashable and require specialised mod chips.
tomm hit the nail on the head. its not illegal to own a dvd burner or blank dvds. i guess you could even compare it to owning a gun. its not illegal to own a gun, but people use it for illegal purposes
Well Done to Neil Higgs for a fantastic victory, and Also to a fantastic Judge and Jury for seeing sense. it proves that not everyone in this world can be bought out by big corporations who are afraid of losing a few customers they never would've had in the first place!
Nice. We can finally ban Bindi for having multiple accounts. Me and Doug finally stand a proper chance, as we DON'T get paid to spam all day
LOL why have a multiple account on here, makes no sense as theres nothing worthwhile to troll. sorry guys, but this guy must be a disgruntled 15 year old.
