R4 card provider ordered to pay Nintendo over $500,000 in damages
By Donald Melanson 
posted February 22nd 2010 6:48AM
posted February 22nd 2010 6:48AM
It may only amount to a drop in Nintendo's pockets, but an Australian provider of R4 cards used to copy Nintendo DS games has now been ordered to pay Nintendo $620,000 Australian dollars (or about $556,822 US dollars) in damages, and destroy all its remaining stock for good measure. While that company, GadgetGear, doesn't seem to be commenting on the matter itself, Nintendo says that GadgetGear has "now acknowledged that game copying devices infringe both Nintendo's copyright and Nintendo's trademarks and that they are illegal circumvention devices," adding that "GadgetGear and the directors have agreed to permanently refrain from importing, offering for sale and/or selling game copier devices." Of course, it is just one provider of R4 cards that's affected by the case, but Nintendo is no doubt hoping that the hefty fine will be enough to at least act as a deterrent to others.
Get 'em while they're hot folks!
Good thing I have an Acekard then!
But seriously, does Ninty really think this'll stop pirates? Pirates will always find a way, and above all that, this is hurting the homebrew community more than anything. They will never be able to shut everyone down, or fine every company making or selling these.
@montymintypie You're right they can't stop everyone, however with this case in mind, some importers will stop importing, at the same time, It's sending a message to game developers, Nintendo is doing it's job to curb piracy.
@montymintypie
Acekard rulez. Seriously, what was Nintendo thinking back then? Did they expect people to walk around with a waist bag will 30 games stuffed in it like it's 1988?
@heliosys Deal Extreme has already ceased the sales of DS Flash Cards on their site.
@montymintypie I'm pretty sure that Nintendo has zero interest in the DS homebrew community.
@TareG
Beats carting 30 UMD's.
Since when was reverse engineering illegal? I know piracy is bad and all, but these carts don't do anything by themselves.
@Liamness Torrent websites and places of that nature can make the argument (usually unsuccessfully) that they don't actually provide any illegal software, and there are plenty of legal items being torrented. These cards, however, are used solely for the purpose of using illegal games. Oh, and homebrew games, which are...illegal. I'm not saying I support the decision, I'm just presenting it from a legal standpoint.
@Liamness
Since copyrights have existed. Nintendo has patents on their input plugs / slots / drives. Anyone wanting to sell compatible hardware has to get approved by Nintendo and pay royalties. Do you think Nintendo only makes money off the games and systems they make? Any company that makes anything for a Nintendo system be it games / controllers / or something else pays Nintendo money. Not because they like Nintendo but because its Nintendo's right to demand it.
@(Unverified)
How are homebrew games at all illegal?..
@EGOvoruhk
Homebrew games aren't illegal. As long the developer follows the rules laid out for them they can sell games. It's just some systems have harder rules than others.
@Liamness
its not.
however, you forget that Nintendo has a truck load of lawyers
@Liamness IIRC the carts contain Nintendo code and/or bypasses Nintendo's encryption that stops fake carts from booting, thus breaking the law. Carts for DSi 1.4 actually use a megabyte of copywrited game code that masks the cart as a game, so if you buy one you are pirating. Slot-2 carts like the M3 and Supercard CF/SD are legal because they require a passme/flashme.
@Liamness
I have already bought a Wii (4 pads + nunchucks + motion plus + wii fit + 12 games), 3 DS's (20 games), a nintendo 64 (25 games), 2 gameboy sp's (20 games), a gameboy micro and a gameboy pocket (10 games).
Nintendo can suck my arse if they want any more money.
I'm guessing that had they been based in China they would still be in business.
@DDragon
I think the manufacturer is based in China. The company being sued here is a distributor... I think. Engadget's use of the term "provider" is weird and ambiguous.
@Mike Well, dealextreme, hong kong based, pulled all their flash carts...but no one else has...
well, made 10 mil, paid 500,000.. sounds like it was worth it
Only 500k? Let's all make R4's!!!!!
@TareG
its very strange when compared to the kid fined 1.5 million for uploading one wii game . . . .
@skyblaze
too bad that one Wii game, super mario bros, was and still is the wii's best seller.
Bad choice of "one game" to upload.
This kind of thing is just stupid. I wouldn't have even bought a DS if the CycloDS card didn't exist. The DS is a very limited platform as shipped from Nintendo, but with a card like the Cyclo or R4 you can watch movies, play music, take notes, and have all your games in one convenient place without the need to swap cartridges about.
Nintendo, how about you leave the modders alone and go after ROM distribution sites instead? They are both a huge waste of time, but at least it's not affecting those of us that just want to listen to music on our DSes.
@47MasoN47
I agree. Imagine if Big-N sold a microSD compatible cartridge that allowed you to purchase games online and download them to your DS. I could see an online store like DSiShop making lots of money if it sold full games.
To prevent piracy, they could give each cartridge a unique serial which you register to your account (much like iPods and iTunes). When you download games on your account, it could be encrypted for that cartridge serial only.
I know the DSi Shop has game downloads, but until you can purchase and download full retail games, we're pretty much stuck lugging around numerous cartridges just to have all our games with us. Lots of people would be happy to re-buy games if they could carry all of their games (or at least a bunch of their favorites) on one cartridge. Big-N could make millions!
In the meantime however, I'm going to stick to backing up my games on my CycloDS so I can leave the cartridges at home.
Wait a minute here -- what about Fair Use?
Is there no DMCA equivalent in Australia?
Maybe that's why they're only going after this one company?
Honestly, Nintendo, they're used only for homebrew - I swear!!
They should realize... Why torrent DS games? Most of them suck anyway. They are only hurting the homebrew community by doing this.
@The REAL Lol I truly had a real LOL reading your comment.
I bought one of these online on Saturday. Just in time its been dispatched :P
I use mine mostly to play Tetris, no joke. Scummvm stuff too.
I wonder how much money they made selling those cards and whether this basically bankrupts them or if it's just a slap on the wrist-pretty hard to tell without knowing what kind of volume they sold.
What are they saying in basic terms?
Nintendo is one of the WORST companies as far as controlling piracy. My local mall STILL SELLS bootleg NES-in-a-controller systems with hundreds of built-in ROMs.
I only bought my DS because the R4 exists, and will continue to buy DS upgrades as long as I have a functioning R4.
Count your blessings Nintendo!
I'm thinking about buying a SuperCard DSTWO soon. You know, for homebrewing. The only thing I'll be pirating is SNES ROMs! Come on, who doesn't want Super Mario All Stars on the DS?