AfterDawn: News

Modchips declared legal in the UK

In the UK it has been ruled that the creation and sale of modchips are infact legal, overturning a past ruling by a lower court.

The UK Court of Appeals ruled in favor of vendor Neil Higgs, who had been arrested on 26 charges of selling modification kits for consoles, most notably the PlayStation 2, Xbox and Xbox 360. For those unaware, modchips allow gamers to play pirated games, usually downloaded from the Internet. The ruling subsequently invalidates the lower courts ruling and Higgs is free to go. He will also be re-compensated for all his legal costs.



The appeal was based on the point that modchips do not circumvent copyright protection even though they are key to piracy on consoles. According to the ruling, "while modchips are integral to the piracy of console games, any act of copyright infringement has been already committed before modchip use or installation."

It is unclear whether the ELSPA will take the case to court again to appeal this latest ruling.

Written by: Andre Yoskowitz @ 13 Jun 2008 14:09

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• 35 comments

• nobrainer

  as a further note, modchips allow you to backup and save your investment so you will never need to damage your original disc but if sony/m$/nitty can sell you the same old title 2, 3, 4 times......... if you damage your disc and want to play the game again.
  
  

  The BPI Are: SONY, UNIVERSAL, WARNER GROUP, EMI.
  The RIAA Soundexchange Are: SONY, UNIVERSAL, WARNER GROUP, EMI.
  The IFPI Are: The same anti consumer lot as listed above!
  The MPAA Are: SONY, UNIVERSAL, WARNER GROUP, DISNEY, PARAMOUNT, FOX.

  13.6.2008 14:51 #1

• emugamer

  Finally. Let's hope the US follows suit. I won't hold my breath though.

  13.6.2008 15:36 #2

• lxfactor

  Originally posted by emugamer: Finally. Let's hope the US follows suit. I won't hold my breath though.lol.. hell would freeze over before that happened.. s0ny/m$ will make sure the jury chooses wisely =D

  13.6.2008 16:27 #3

• arcanix

  Quote:as a further note, modchips allow you to backup and save your investment so you will never need to damage your original disc but if sony/m$/nitty can sell you the same old title 2, 3, 4 times......... if you damage your disc and want to play the game again. Oh come on now, that's just BS. It's all about playing downloaded games for free and you know it. But I really don't care about it, those who download games are usually too cheap, so they wouldn't even play games if they didn't get it free.

  13.6.2008 16:36 #4

• ZippyDSM

  DVDBack23
  
  love ya man (manly bear hug) but the title is a little OTT, all this means is that it will lead to the legalization of mod chips but in itself dose nothign for the current laws in place.

  13.6.2008 17:13 #5

• emugamer

  Originally posted by ZippyDSM: ....all this means is that it will lead to the legalization of mod chips but in itself dose nothign for the current laws in place....and that legitimate business people who were screwed can get something back for their inconvenience. That's the real important part. If the US legalized mod chips, I wouldn't get one at this point in time, but it would be good to know that there would be a chance that those who worked hard at what they did would be compensated.

  13.6.2008 18:19 #6

• lynchGOP

  HELL YEAH...............I buy it...........I own!! Clear as that. You no likey like.........**** OFF!!!!!!!!!

  13.6.2008 18:22 #7

• ZippyDSM

  Quote:Originally posted by ZippyDSM: ....all this means is that it will lead to the legalization of mod chips but in itself dose nothign for the current laws in place....and that legitimate business people who were screwed can get something back for their inconvenience. That's the real important part. If the US legalized mod chips, I wouldn't get one at this point in time, but it would be good to know that there would be a chance that those who worked hard at what they did would be compensated.I doubt it the whimsy of the government is quite sadistic, the US gov er the US companies have a tight lock on the US gov so I don't see mod chips being legal anytime soon...

  13.6.2008 18:23 #8

• Mik3h

  I thought you had to submit credit to the person who submitted the article? ie. Me?
  
  Nevermind.

  13.6.2008 18:42 #9

• ZippyDSM

  Originally posted by Mik3h: I thought you had to submit credit to the person who submitted the article? ie. Me?
  
  Nevermind.they never comment on who summbits what since either everyone knows or only a fe3 do.

  13.6.2008 18:57 #10

• DVDBack23

  Originally posted by Mik3h: I thought you had to submit credit to the person who submitted the article? ie. Me?
  
  Nevermind.We do not have to credit whoever submitted the article, and this was written before you submitted yours. I do however send PMs of thanks to the users that submit the most articles that fit our niche (nobrainer, zippy, etc)
  
  edited for typos.

  13.6.2008 19:25 #11

• grkblood

  Quote:Quote:as a further note, modchips allow you to backup and save your investment so you will never need to damage your original disc but if sony/m$/nitty can sell you the same old title 2, 3, 4 times......... if you damage your disc and want to play the game again. Oh come on now, that's just BS. It's all about playing downloaded games for free and you know it. But I really don't care about it, those who download games are usually too cheap, so they wouldn't even play games if they didn't get it free.who are you quoting again? lol.

  13.6.2008 19:33 #12

• xSModder

  Quote:Quote:as a further note, modchips allow you to backup and save your investment so you will never need to damage your original disc but if sony/m$/nitty can sell you the same old title 2, 3, 4 times......... if you damage your disc and want to play the game again.
  Oh come on now, that's just BS. It's all about playing downloaded games for free and you know it. But I really don't care about it, those who download games are usually too cheap, so they wouldn't even play games if they didn't get it free.i can only assume you're rich. Otherwise you have no place to talk.
  nobrainer's opinion is perfect: as a rule whenever I actually buy something I always rip it and sometimes share it. it's the safety of knowing that you can just burn copies for people so that your original stays nice and tidy. and uploading only means you give back to the community that helped you get your vast library of media.
  and in times like this with the economy and how expensive corporate america is, i'd rather not lose 40$-50$ out of my paycheck a week when I want to play a new game. if games were only say 10$ i'd be more than happy to comply.
  
  and this is great. Sweden's trying to legalize online piracy and UK legalized modchips. more and more reasons to get out of America every day ;)

  14.6.2008 03:06 #13

• Pop_Smith

  I personally am confused on this ruling, according to the article:
  
  "The appeal was based on the point that modchips do not circumvent copyright protection even though they are key to piracy on consoles. According to the ruling, "while modchips are integral to the piracy of console games, any act of copyright infringement has been already committed before modchip use or installation.""
  
  The only way I know of to "dump" games, therefore circumventing the on-disk copy protection, is via a console with a modchip.
  
  If someone knows a way to dump games (although the Wii does have a way...) without a modchip and prove it then a glimmer of light for legalizing modchips in America maybe seen.

  14.6.2008 03:34 #14

• ZippyDSM

  Originally posted by Pop_Smith: I personally am confused on this ruling, according to the article:
  
  "The appeal was based on the point that modchips do not circumvent copyright protection even though they are key to piracy on consoles. According to the ruling, "while modchips are integral to the piracy of console games, any act of copyright infringement has been already committed before modchip use or installation.""
  
  The only way I know of to "dump" games, therefore circumventing the on-disk copy protection, is via a console with a modchip.
  
  If someone knows a way to dump games (although the Wii does have a way...) without a modchip and prove it then a glimmer of light for legalizing modchips in America maybe seen.there is a glimmer of light, modchips can be done without copyright infringement, however the DMCA is clear on its anti hardware hacking stuff so even if its done under fair use its still blocked,it will be a very hard fight in the US.

  14.6.2008 03:38 #15

• nobrainer

  Originally posted by arcanix: Oh come on now, that's just BS. It's all about playing downloaded games for free and you know it. But I really don't care about it, those who download games are usually too cheap, so they wouldn't even play games if they didn't get it free.if all the studios, producers, ect, stated that they will replace ALL damaged discs free of charge, it would stop the argument and, the need for backups, but they will NOT do this and they continually block you form protecting your investment with the hope of you making multiple purchases the same media, just as the riaa, ect, is trying to make you purchase copies of music for each individual device, they want to sell us all the same media as many times as possible, and damaged discs can rope in a huge amount from teenagers parents!
  
  what about the other legal uses such as importing foreign titles and homebrew, ah but the cabal of media monopolists want to be able to price fix globally just as they do with dvd's so the region locks must stay intact.
  
  what is drm really about, global price fixing maybe, blocking free software made by the community to keep ppl purchasing their crud? and their argument is unless someone gets paid no one would bother so royalties must be protected! my answer is, what is, the open source community?
  
  

  The BPI Are: SONY, UNIVERSAL, WARNER GROUP, EMI.
  The RIAA Soundexchange Are: SONY, UNIVERSAL, WARNER GROUP, EMI.
  The IFPI Are: The same anti consumer lot as listed above!
  The MPAA Are: SONY, UNIVERSAL, WARNER GROUP, DISNEY, PARAMOUNT, FOX.

  14.6.2008 04:29 #16

• grkblood

  Just for the record I am for modchips but I dont live by them. My PS3 library is getting quite nice without one.

  14.6.2008 10:25 #17

• tripplite

  ^^^
  
  if you can afford them ....or afford replacing broken ones....they get scratched all the time lol!

  14.6.2008 12:50 #18

• grkblood

  companies actually will replace the discs anyways. my sister got her copy of halo replaced.

  14.6.2008 13:18 #19

• ZippyDSM

  Originally posted by grkblood: companies actually will replace the discs anyways. my sister got her copy of halo replaced.
  Not always tho more often than not they ignore you.

  14.6.2008 13:39 #20

• nobrainer

  Originally posted by grkblood: companies actually will replace the discs anyways. my sister got her copy of halo replaced.that was because of a flaw with the 360 scratching discs, if you damage a disc like step on it they will replace it but it works out more expensive than going to the shops.
  
  Try emailing sony, nitty, m$ ect to see if you can get this game you purchased, two months ago that i accidentally snapped replaced and how much it will cost then try the 3rd party.
  
  luckily i live in the UK and the cabal of kleptocrats from the USA cannot totally dictate to us yet, we still have laws and judges!
  
  
  Homeland Security Tries To Make Dubious Connection Between Mod Chippers And Money Laundering Originally posted by hyper: from the don't-they-have-something-better-to-do? dept
  
  We've written about the mod chip saga for years. Basically, mod chips let you change what a video game console can do. It's often used by people who want to play unauthorized games, but there are legitimate reasons to modify your video game system. Considering that it's a purchased item, you would think that the owner would have every right to tinker with it however they saw fit -- but you would be wrong. Buzz writes in to let us know that mod chips are back in the headlines as again as customs agents raided 32 homes and businesses to look for mod chips. It's not clear why the feds should get involved in what someone does to legally purchased hardware, but that's the world we live in these days. Thanks to the DMCA, having anything that can circumvent copy protection is illegal. The press release quotes from the Department of Homeland Security are really stepping into ridiculous territory, though: "These crimes cost legitimate businesses billions of dollars annually and facilitate multiple other layers of criminality, such as smuggling, software piracy and money laundering." That's right. First cite bogus claims about imaginary "losses" and then, to make it actually sound like a big deal, try to imply that it's involved in organized crime by saying it's associated with smuggling and money laundering. Of course, there wouldn't be any issue with "smuggling" if the law wasn't criminalizing modifying a product that you legitimately purchased.
  
  

  The BPI Are: SONY, UNIVERSAL, WARNER GROUP, EMI.
  The RIAA Soundexchange Are: SONY, UNIVERSAL, WARNER GROUP, EMI.
  The IFPI Are: The same anti consumer lot as listed above!
  The MPAA Are: SONY, UNIVERSAL, WARNER GROUP, DISNEY, PARAMOUNT, FOX.

  14.6.2008 14:49 #21

• SProdigy

  Quote:Try emailing sony, nitty, m$ ect to see if you can get this game you purchased, two months ago that i accidentally snapped replaced and how much it will cost then try the 3rd party.Yeah, and those replacement plans for consoles that stores such as Best Buy sell... I have a buddy at work who had a 360 scratch 2-3 of his game discs. He took his 360 to BB, where it was under their replacement plan, and they tried a CD laying around, and poof, it got scratched. They decided to replace his console on the spot, but NOT HIS GAMES! They now sell individual plans for games, but not at the time he bought his console/games. How about that BS? To make the story even sweeter, he is a former BB employee on top of it!

  14.6.2008 15:06 #22

• SDF_GR

  Originally posted by arcanix: Oh come on now, that's just BS. It's all about playing downloaded games for free and you know it. But I really don't care about it, those who download games are usually too cheap, so they wouldn't even play games if they didn't get it free.
  Originally posted by nobrainer:
  if all the studios, producers, ect, stated that they will replace ALL damaged discs free of charge, it would stop the argument and, the need for backups, but they will NOT do this and they continually block you form protecting your investment with the hope of you making multiple purchases the same media,Ooooo please, they have released BD with durabis that is almost impossible to scratch and you are not pleased with that either.
  You prob is that you cant copy/ get free content, period.
  At least admit it.
  Even if they price went down to 50cent you wouldn't be pleased.
  To the amazon news thread, with the cheap BD's you didn't make a single comment, and i dont wonder why.
  
  as arcanix said, BS!! and i'll add Big Time!!!

  14.6.2008 21:34 #23

• ZippyDSM

  SDF_GR
  So fair use and consuemr rights are damaging to the corporate state, well comrade take that line of thought and put it to government and freedoms, the less gray area and freedoms we have the less rights and free thought we have, I call BS there is a better balance only the corporations and governments have to get out of antiquated draconian mindsets.
  
  BTW modchips do not equate piracy not with region locking still in full effect only for the PS3 they have grouped a few regions together for film and movies, modchips and after market devices make hardware global media playing devices the corporations are more worried abotu revenue loss over localized sales and half of that "profit" if from price raping the region.
  
  There is much more at stake than a few "free" game that would have never been bought new in the first place....

  14.6.2008 22:04 #24

• xSModder

  Quote:Ooooo please, they have released BD with durabis that is almost impossible to scratch and you are not pleased with that either.
  You prob is that you cant copy/ get free content, period.
  At least admit it.
  Even if they price went down to 50cent you wouldn't be pleased.
  To the amazon news thread, with the cheap BD's you didn't make a single comment, and i dont wonder why.
  
  as arcanix said, BS!! and i'll add Big Time!!!
  sign yourself up to Sony, they need a good spokesman on this fault..
  
  what's being said is true though. there must have been some time you got a brand new whatever (game, movie, CD) and then somebody f**ked it beyond repair. and what did you do, eat the cost and buy a new one? I just burned myself a brand new copy :)

  15.6.2008 05:33 #25

• SDF_GR

  You people will even have problem with content released in flash drives as long as it has DRM.
  A flash drive is almost unbreakable, no scratch issue and some of them are even waterproof.
  BUT!!
  with flash drives that you run out of excuse you say that you want to move content to your ipod, your psp, mobile phone etc.
  Not that is something isnt it?
  
  DRM sucks for sure, i dont like locked content either.
  I like that i am able to copy my discs, my games, movies what ever, but to say that you want to copy a disc for back up reasons, that is at least hilarious.
  
  What you are saying is that you can take care your Car,your motorcycle your TV, your kid, your house and you cant take care a damn disc???
  
  Give me a break.

  15.6.2008 19:08 #26

• ZippyDSM

  Originally posted by SDF_GR: You people will even have problem with content released in flash drives as long as it has DRM.
  A flash drive is almost unbreakable, no scratch issue and some of them are even waterproof.
  BUT!!
  with flash drives that you run out of excuse you say that you want to move content to your ipod, your psp, mobile phone etc.
  Not that is something isnt it?
  
  DRM sucks for sure, i dont like locked content either.
  I like that i am able to copy my discs, my games, movies what ever, but to say that you want to copy a disc for back up reasons, that is at least hilarious.
  
  What you are saying is that you can take care your Car,your motorcycle your TV, your kid, your house and you cant take care a damn disc???
  
  Give me a break.And I am sure you want to carry 5 or 10 flash cards with you to play on trips.... speaking of which have you tried taking a disc on tripes?
  
  Sorry backing up is as logical as playing it, time and time again the media mafia tries to infringe on consumer rights to assert their power and make deals that give them and their pets in office power, what do they give us?.
  Music police hounding real police
  http://www.afterdawn.com/news/archive/14487.cfm
  
  Or Conspiring to entrap consumers with data gathering from the ISP which should remain a neutral party unless law enforcement can find the crime without committing one.
  http://www.afterdawn.com/news/archive/14494.cfm
  
  Or shutting down access to newgroups just because they think they can get away with it forget common carrier laws....
  http://www.afterdawn.com/news/archive/14493.cfm
  
  Or better yet a teired net thats not a tiered net because the ISPs didn't want to update the infrastructure of the net when it was cheap so many years ago
  http://www.afterdawn.com/news/archive/14484.cfm
  
  Or how about locking a Cell phone to a a single over price service when it can work as well on any in the area of service or lockign a game to a console or better yet limiting how many times you can install a game....I am sorry but there is a huge diffrance in sharing data that wont be bought new anyway and raping the goddamn consumer thats just as bad as buying a poor qaulity bootleg!

  15.6.2008 19:20 #27

• borhan9

  I love this, it reminds me of wat happened a few years ago here in Australia and the same sorta rulling went down saying mod chips do not cause the piracy i like how common sense is prevalling here.

  16.6.2008 01:00 #28

• xSModder

  Quote:You people will even have problem with content released in flash drives as long as it has DRM.
  A flash drive is almost unbreakable, no scratch issue and some of them are even waterproof.
  BUT!!
  with flash drives that you run out of excuse you say that you want to move content to your ipod, your psp, mobile phone etc.
  Not that is something isnt it?
  
  DRM sucks for sure, i dont like locked content either.
  I like that i am able to copy my discs, my games, movies what ever, but to say that you want to copy a disc for back up reasons, that is at least hilarious.
  
  What you are saying is that you can take care your Car,your motorcycle your TV, your kid, your house and you cant take care a damn disc???
  
  Give me a break.disc scratches once, it's done. you just lost important data or it has become damaged. and flash drives have a small life span. digital media, backups, last usually as long as the user wants them to. through sharing, files can always live and thrive, thus lasting forever. and essentially, when you copy something, you're in the same leagues with us. ;)
  your examples are very exaggerated. if you want a better example, buy a cake. bring it home, look at it, hell take it to work, put it in your car, leave it, and see how long you can keep that all intact before it just looks like sh*t. I mean apart from the mold, i give you about 3 days.

  16.6.2008 02:31 #29

• mattcorn

  Quote:Quote:Originally posted by ZippyDSM: ....all this means is that it will lead to the legalization of mod chips but in itself dose nothign for the current laws in place....and that legitimate business people who were screwed can get something back for their inconvenience. That's the real important part. If the US legalized mod chips, I wouldn't get one at this point in time, but it would be good to know that there would be a chance that those who worked hard at what they did would be compensated.I doubt it the whimsy of the government is quite sadistic, the US gov er the US companies have a tight lock on the US gov so I don't see mod chips being legal anytime soon...I'm lost. Since when are mod chips illegal?

  16.6.2008 22:52 #30

• ZippyDSM

  Quote:Quote:Quote:Originally posted by ZippyDSM: ....all this means is that it will lead to the legalization of mod chips but in itself dose nothign for the current laws in place....and that legitimate business people who were screwed can get something back for their inconvenience. That's the real important part. If the US legalized mod chips, I wouldn't get one at this point in time, but it would be good to know that there would be a chance that those who worked hard at what they did would be compensated.I doubt it the whimsy of the government is quite sadistic, the US gov er the US companies have a tight lock on the US gov so I don't see mod chips being legal anytime soon...I'm lost. Since when are mod chips illegal?
  DMCA made mod chips illegal and even ICE and the FBI have been out and about cracking down on 30+ year olds that live with their parents that might have more than 100 legit games and a mod chip......

  16.6.2008 23:08 #31

• tedrehak

  GREAT RESULT !! The Public 1 - JEWS 0 !!!

  20.6.2008 03:18 #32

• ZippyDSM

  Originally posted by tedrehak: GREAT RESULT !! The Public 1 - JEWS 0 !!!oy vay.......

  20.6.2008 03:21 #33

• eviluke

  hahahha of course the only reason the bloody government legalises thing is so the buggers can tax them!!

  20.6.2008 10:53 #34

• FredBun

  good for the uk

  29.6.2008 02:00 #35