WolfmanNCSU
07-05-2005, 09:34 PM
A man has been convicted for illegally modding an Xbox for the first time in the UK.
The Caerphilly Magistrates Court convicted the 22-year-old Cambridge graduate for his side business involving the modding and selling of Microsoft's game consoles through his Website. He modified them with 200GB hard drives that came will 80 pre-installed games.
The Entertainment & Leisure Software Publishers Association (ELSPA) lead the investigation that ultimately led to the man's conviction.
"This case today sets a major precedent which marks a milestone in the fight against piracy and in protecting the games industry's intellectual property," said Mike Rawlinson, deputy director general of ELSPA in a statement. "It sends a clear message to anyone tempted to become involved in "chipping" consoles that this is a criminal offense and will be dealt with accordingly.
'The modification of consoles is an activity that ELSPA's anti-piracy team is prioritizing - it is encouraging to see the UK courts do the same,' he added.
The convicted man was ordered to serve 140 hours of community service. This marks the first conviction in the UK, under a new law that was enacted October 2003 that made the practice of modifying game consoles illegal to comply with the EU's Copyright Directive.
Modifying game consoles - or "chipping" is usually accomplished by soldering chips to the main circuit boards of the consoles to bypass copyright controls. Some common functions of the "mod chips" allow users to play games from other countries, as well as playing games that are backups or bootlegs.
Source (http://www.geekinformed.com/content/view/406/2/)
I guess he shouldn't have sold the HD with the games already installed....
The Caerphilly Magistrates Court convicted the 22-year-old Cambridge graduate for his side business involving the modding and selling of Microsoft's game consoles through his Website. He modified them with 200GB hard drives that came will 80 pre-installed games.
The Entertainment & Leisure Software Publishers Association (ELSPA) lead the investigation that ultimately led to the man's conviction.
"This case today sets a major precedent which marks a milestone in the fight against piracy and in protecting the games industry's intellectual property," said Mike Rawlinson, deputy director general of ELSPA in a statement. "It sends a clear message to anyone tempted to become involved in "chipping" consoles that this is a criminal offense and will be dealt with accordingly.
'The modification of consoles is an activity that ELSPA's anti-piracy team is prioritizing - it is encouraging to see the UK courts do the same,' he added.
The convicted man was ordered to serve 140 hours of community service. This marks the first conviction in the UK, under a new law that was enacted October 2003 that made the practice of modifying game consoles illegal to comply with the EU's Copyright Directive.
Modifying game consoles - or "chipping" is usually accomplished by soldering chips to the main circuit boards of the consoles to bypass copyright controls. Some common functions of the "mod chips" allow users to play games from other countries, as well as playing games that are backups or bootlegs.
Source (http://www.geekinformed.com/content/view/406/2/)
I guess he shouldn't have sold the HD with the games already installed....