Japanese Courts Sentence Man for Illegally Modifying and Selling Second-Hand Nintendo Switch Units
We know that piracy and modding are controversial practices. Companies consider it illegal, while users and those who do it consider it a grey area. Of course, companies want to keep fighting for their rights and they want to make money off selling consoles, which is why they are always cracking down on piracy and modding.
Among the companies that have the hardest stance against such practices is Nintendo, who has been cracking down on pirates and crackers for some time now, and a recent Japanese case illustrates just how this crackdown works in practice.
Namely, a report from Japan confirms that a Japanese man has recently been sentenced to a suspended prison sentence for selling modified Nintendo Switch units on a flea market.
This piece of information comes from Kōchi, where the local courts have sentenced a 58-year-old transportation worker called Fumihiro Otobe to two years in prison, suspended for three years, and a fine of 500,000 yen (roughly US$3,495). Why?
Well, it turns out that Otobe was tried for welding modified parts to the circuit board of second-hand Switch units, and selling them on a flea market app for 28,000 yen (roughly US$195) each.
Selling second-hand units on a flea market is fine, so it is apparent that the issue here was that these units were modified, which is what Nintendo is trying to stop with its anti-piracy policies.
As per the source, this is the first such case in Japan, i.e., the first in which someone was sentenced for selling modded Switch units.
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