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Nintendo is suing the creators of Switch emulator Yuzu

overkill.wtf

221–230 of 709 posts

Re: Nintendo is suing the creators of Switch emulator Yuzu

#221
I feel like there ought to be a sliding scale of cost associated with filing a law suit. If you're a very large company suing a very small company, it should be very expensive to file. Expensive enough to make your lawyers encourage you to think really hard about whether or not this is actually a threat to your business.

Of course, applying that to the real world would obviously fall apart quickly. It's not hard to think through loopholes.

It just seems to easy to crush a small company/group who are just doing something you don't like.

Re: Nintendo is suing the creators of Switch emulator Yuzu

#222
post #185

> As a result, Nintendo ... is demanding that the Yuzu emulator is shut down. When corporations like Uber violate multiple laws, do they get shut down? When Amazon treats its employees poorly, does it get shut down? When Google forbids manufacturers to pre-install competitor apps, does it get shut down? Well, it seems that as long as copyright is not infringed, everything is ok. Also it seems to me that Nintendo migh…

There were tons and TONS of ride sharing apps that got shut down as Uber was becoming popular due to regulatory violations: Sidecar, Juno, Poparide, Heetch, Taxify, and there are probably hundreds that got shut down in local markets. Plenty of companies get shut down for regulatory violations, or employee mistreatment. Pointing at some extreme outliers is nothing more than a form of selection bias.

Why didn't Uber though? Is it just enough money to buy the right lobbyists and lawyers?

Re: Nintendo is suing the creators of Switch emulator Yuzu

#223

I knew that Patreon would bite them some day. Any time money comes into a "offensive" open source project, whoever feels they are getting hurt can make a claim a lot easier. Somewhat surprised they haven't yet sued Ryujinx (the other Switch emulator project) for also having a Patreon.

Making money is not a factor for fair use, but one factor is whether it’s a for-profit endeavor; you can be making money to fund an operation without doing so for profit. And even then, courts haven’t been too concerned with that aspect when other aspects are clearly met.

You need some sort of legal entity to receive the money, with ties to some real persons. It makes some corp. going after you so much easier, compared to trying to get to 'rightbyte' or 'judge2020' for doing git commits.

Re: Nintendo is suing the creators of Switch emulator Yuzu

#224

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Sure. Just look up the DeCSS controversy which got the creator of a DVD ripping software arrested and barely avoiding extradition, or the 09 F9 controversy where the MPAA attempted to censor a number from the internet. This provision in the DMCA has been most often used against developers of unauthorized DVD copying software, Blu-ray copying software, etc; and the force of the legal argument has been well proven prev…

I wonder if it would be possible to develop a Switch emulator without the ability to decrypt any games. Users would be expected to bring already-decrypted games, which they could decrypt via an "unrelated" program.

You already have to provide your own encryption keys to the emulator.

Re: Nintendo is suing the creators of Switch emulator Yuzu

#225
post #204

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Anyone can sue anyone for any reason at any time. Unless the lawsuit is in bad faith and meritless (only a court can make that determination), there is no argument to be had about "lawfare". The only difference here and in other companies is that Nintendo actually follows through with their legal threats instead of just filing complaints they don't intend to take to court.

If we don't like companies abusing their power, we can complain and decide not to buy the products of companies doing that sort of thing, and support their competitors. There's only so far courts takes you, for a consumer company the real trial is most definitely in the public court of opinion.

I can't see their user base (or should I say fans?) caring about some cheap-ass emulator crowd. Nintendo's cash cow is people who buy consoles, games and accessories for thousands bucks, not tinkerers. More general public (i.e. moms looking for kids' presents) wouldn't give to shits about any legal buggery either.

Re: Nintendo is suing the creators of Switch emulator Yuzu

#226
post #180

It's unbelievable how much I loath Nintendo these days. Hard to believe I use to love them growing up. I got a Nintendo switch last year from Walmart. The f*ing came used (apparently someone in the store played some Zelda in it, put it back in the box and sold to me as new). Walmart said they couldn't do anything when I emailed them about the issue. Anyways, the switch came with no games. Nothing. Zero. So, naively I…

Don't forget that Nintendo put Gary Bowser -- a man in a wheelchair, with two kids -- in prison for a year. Now he owes 30% of his income to Nintendo for the rest of his life. He made Switch mod chips.

Until Nintendo walks that back, I will pirate all future nintendo games and donate the cover price to Bowser's gofundme.

Re: Nintendo is suing the creators of Switch emulator Yuzu

#229

Yuzu is open source isn’t it? Nintendo can’t be completely incompetent here; if they get Yuzu shut down someone will inevitably fork it, and they have to know this. Presumably this is a play to try and establish precedent. They know that this lawsuit means nothing in itself, even if they win, but it can then be used to go after Retroarch or Higan or Mupen64 or Dolphin. This is bad.

By ensuring there's no funding of the project, they can cripple it and ensure it will always be far behind the mainline product. It will also scare a lot of people off who don't want to risk getting wrapped up in a lawsuit for their weekend hobby

Re: Nintendo is suing the creators of Switch emulator Yuzu

#230

> As a result, Nintendo ... is demanding that the Yuzu emulator is shut down. When corporations like Uber violate multiple laws, do they get shut down? When Amazon treats its employees poorly, does it get shut down? When Google forbids manufacturers to pre-install competitor apps, does it get shut down? Well, it seems that as long as copyright is not infringed, everything is ok. Also it seems to me that Nintendo migh…

Yeah, it's a pretty stark illustration of "we have enough money to fuck you up, and are very willing to do so". "Might makes right" in action. Your monopoly point is an interesting one. Wonder if there's an actual legal case there, as Nintendo have done a lot of this bullying over the years.

No, there isn’t. Companies choose to put games on Nintendo, many games are available on multiple consoles including Nintendo, and depending on the generation Nintendo is not even always the biggest player. There’s no illegal monopoly.

One is certainly allowed to have a monopoly over their own products, that’s what trademarks and patents are for.

It’s hard to argue a game developer is forced to play ball with Nintendo.

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