Nintendo won its lawsuit against a Nintendo Switch hacking device seller. The website Uberchips settled to pay $2 million in damages to the Japanese company.
In May 2020, Nintendo Switch hack reseller Uberchips received a lawsuit from the company. Tom Dilts Jr., the Ohio-based operator of the company, received the brunt of the suit. The company claimed to have sold a custom OS that allowed Switch games piracy.
Switch piracy required hardware mods
Piracy and hardware modding is nothing new for different consoles. For the Switch, the biggest custom hardware system is SX Core and SX Lite. These systems came from an alleged piracy group called Team Xecuter.
SX Core hardware was a simple mod that installs a custom firmware on the Switch. With the custom firmware, anyone can download pirated Switch titles online and play. With the right hands, people can do whatever they want with their device.
At the time, Uberchips sold the products related to Team Xecuter until Dilts received Nintendo’s lawsuit. He took his website down and has now agreed to pay Nintendo for $2 million. He also agreed to destroy any of the remaining stock he has.
The joint court filing does not have a judge’s signature as of yet. Even then, that’s likely a formality at this point. The permanent injunction will prevent Dilts and his company from selling anything that infringes on Nintendo’s copyright.
Nintendo running after eight more foreign site operators
Nintendo’s lawsuit with Uberchips is pushed towards more important things for their Nintendo Switch. So far, the company cannot catch Team Xecuter directly, but instead suing sellers of their wares. The reach of the hacks goes as far as North America, Europe, and Southeast Asia.
The permanent injunction stops people like Dilts from ever selling piracy hardware. These include both physical and digital wares, which means any custom firmware can be problematic.
The injunction also forced Dilts to close off any remaining social media for Uberchips. He would also need to hand off the Uberchips.com website to Nintendo.
According to reports, there are eight more foreign site operators that Nintendo is running after. The company cannot find details about many of these companies, so it’s forcing domain name registrars to reveal the owners.
None of these lawsuits points at Team Xecuter at the moment. Even then, the latter is accusing Nintendo of censorship, monopoly, and legal scare tactics.
The Nintendo Switch has a burgeoning community of players dedicated to hacking their devices. So far, Nintendo is yet to provide any action against them or their efforts to hack their handhelds.
Featured image courtesy of Nintendo/Youtube Screenshot