What just happened? Few companies have a reputation for litigation quite like Nintendo, which is why taking the gaming giant on in court, especially when representing yourself, is a dangerous move. Just ask the Switch modder who followed this course of action, lost, and must now pay $2 million.
The case revolves around the website Modded Hardware, which sold devices like the MIG Switch flashcart and MIG Dumper. While both are marketed as backup devices, they are used for piracy purposes as they let users rip game cartridges into digital files and load/run them without the original cartridge.
In July 2024, Nintendo filed a lawsuit at a Washington federal court against Flint, Michigan, resident Ryan Daly, Modded Hardware's operator. Nintendo had warned Daly to close his business the previous March, but he ignored it, leading to the legal action.
Perhaps unwisely, Daly decided to forgo any legal representation, representing himself in court. He denied Nintendo's accusations of trafficking hacked hardware and the implication that he sold products pre-loaded with pirated games.
Daly's arguments for his defence included everything from fair use allowances to invalid copyrights. But despite his brave attempt at defending himself, Nintendo and its presumably highly skilled and well-paid lawyers triumphed in the case.
The court found that Modded Hardware sold piracy-enabling devices, hacked consoles, and mod chips that caused Nintendo of America "significant and irreparable harm," allowing pirated copies of Nintendo games to be created, distributed and played "on a massive scale." Nintendo argued that this threatened sales and undermined the Switch's ecosystem.
Daly must now pay the company $2 million, shut down the Modded Hardware website, and hand the domain over to Nintendo. The permanent injunction also prohibits him from sharing documentation or information related to console modification.
No company is as aggressive in its pursuit of pirates, or perceived pirates, as Nintendo. This year saw the first-ever Switch modding case in Japan end with a fine and a suspended jail sentence. The firm won another lawsuit against French file-sharing company Dstorage, which hosted pirated Nintendo content, in March. And in November, Nintendo pursued a concerning subpoena to obtain Reddit's business records in order to identify members of piracy subreddits.