Cardiff police seize DS cartridge copying devices in shop raid
Ξ December 19th, 2008 | → | ∇ Gadgets |
A police raid on a shop and private residence in Cardiff has nabbed a total of 2,800 Nintendo DS and DS Lite “game copying devices”. These are used to bypass the technical protection measures present in Nintendo’s handhelds that prevent piracy.
The 21 year-old counterfeiter, as yet unnamed by police, was arrested following the morning raids carried out on Thursday. Several hundred of the devices were found ready to be dispatched to buyers. It is believed that the man, who was also claiming benefit, brought them through Heathrow in four consignments. Trade body ELSPA used investigators to discover the website he was selling them from; action was taken following a test purchase.
From pictures taken of the seized stock, we are reasonably certain that the copying devices were none other than R4DS cartridges, sales of which Nintendo has been campaigning vigorously against. In a statement, David Yarnton, Nintendo UK General Manager, said: "Nintendo is serious about taking actions against those involved in the manufacturing and distribution of game copying devices."
The bad news is that the chap also diligently made records of all the sales he’s made over the past two years. So if you’ve recently invested in a R4DS cart, you’ll be forgiven for listening nervously for the police sirens. But game-copying cartridges like the R4DS are not solely used for piracy – they make the DS into a good MP3 and MPEG media player too. T3 has contacted ELSPA for clarification of how the outlawing of such devices affects consumers that have unwittingly bought them. As of publishing, we haven’t received a response. Considering you can still buy them on Amazon.co.uk, they would seem to inhabit a distinctly grey legal area.
Link: ELSPA
