Mr. Modchips loses to ELSPA in court battle, appeal granted |
Ó
The Entertainment and Leisure Software Publishers Association (ELSPA) sent in a press release informing QJ.NET about a successful court battle against businessman Neil Stanley Higgs known online as "Mr. Modchips". He was charged in UK for distributing and selling the "illegal technology" that enables gamers play backup DVD and CD copies. The decision was granted a couple of days ago and charged Higgs of three counts of advertising, supplying, and selling modchips.
Aside from that, the businessman was also found guilty of 12 counts of possessing 19 chipped games consoles as well as 11 counts of possessing Executor and Viper GC modchips. Higgs argued that all the possessions in question found during one of ELSPA's investigations were owned by family members and friends.
Unfortunately for him, Judge Carole Hagen didn't believe his defense. Reports said that since starting business in 2002, Higgins has accumulated a total of one million GBP (US$ 2.05 million) in revenue. ELSPA Managing Director Michael Rawlinson said:
This case today sets a major precedent which marks a milestone in the fight against piracy, protecting the games industry's investment in fantastic games. It sends a clear message to anyone tempted to become involved in "chipping" consoles that this is a criminal offence and will be dealt in the strongest possible way.
Neil Stanley Higgs' attorneys filed for an appeal which the judge granted.
Contact Us:
The QJ.net Network |
 |
| Site | Feed |
| QJ.NET | RSS |
| Nintendo DS | RSS |
| PlayStation 3 | RSS |
| PSP Updates | RSS |
| Wii | RSS |
| Xbox 360 | RSS |
| MMORPG | RSS |
| Personal Computer Games | RSS |
| iPhone - iPod Touch | RSS |
| QJ.NET Forums | RSS |
Add QJ.NET
User Favorites - December
User Favorites - December
Categories
Archives
Accessories
Add-ons
Applications
Artwork
Batteries
Cheats
Deals
Emulators
Events
Featured Articles
Firmware
Flash Applications
Flash games
Game Demos
Games
Hacks & Exploits
Homebrew Applications
Homebrew Demos
Homebrew Development
Homebrew Emulators
Homebrew Games
Homebrew Themes
How-To
Humor
Imports
Interviews
Magazines
Mods
MY QJ
News
Off Topic
On Shelves This Week
Opinions & Analysis
Podcasts
Previews
PSP Go
PSP Minis
PSP Slim & Lite
QJ How-To Series
QuickJump QuickGuide
QuickJump QuickPeek
Reviews
Rumors
Scans
Screenshots
Site News
Titles
UMD Movies
Videos
Weekend Warrior
Wi-Fi
December 2009
November 2009
October 2009
September 2009
August 2009
July 2009
June 2009
May 2009
April 2009
March 2009
February 2009
January 2009
December 2008
November 2008
October 2008
September 2008
August 2008
July 2008
June 2008
May 2008
April 2008
March 2008
February 2008
January 2008
December 2007
November 2007
October 2007
September 2007
August 2007
July 2007
June 2007
May 2007
April 2007
March 2007
February 2007
January 2007
December 2006
November 2006
October 2006
September 2006
August 2006
July 2006
June 2006
May 2006
April 2006
March 2006
February 2006
January 2006
December 2005
November 2005
October 2005
September 2005
August 2005
July 2005
June 2005
May 2005
April 2005
March 2005
February 2005
January 2005
Comments [refresh]
Ok I guess I'm in the dark on this one.
It's illegal to have a moded consoles? Does that hold true to all areas or just the UK?
"Neil Stanley Higgs' attorneys filed for an appeal which the judge granted." ; to earn more $, and then sentence him heavier
effing eslpa. I hope they go to hell along with the mpia, rciaa, and whatever other uberrich b@stards they are. They attack a person who made only $1,000,000 and they themselves make over 100 times that much money a year, and still they can't leave that guy alone.
Well, at least they can't say anything to us PSP users, since we're
a. softmodding
b. simply using the 1.50 kernel, which Sony created!
Besides, I thought modding was legal. Running stolen software was not allowed, I thought?
Fight the fight for console freedom hard! I think anybody who spends the money and/or time for a modded console should be able to own one. Sure you can play illegal copies of games... which im sure about 70% or more of the people who own them do, but alot of people use it for homebrew, xbox anybody?? I'll tell you my xbox has had hundreds of games played on it... and its only had one legit xbox game played on it, ninja gaiden, which I own.
I'm not 100% against playing illegal copies... I'll admit, I've played my fair share of copied games, but to be completely honest, most of the games that were copied that I really got into, I now own. The games were so awesome they made me feel I should support that game. I would have never bought it if I was never able to get a taste of the game first... I cant say this same case for everybody tho...
It doesn't matter if you use the technology for piracy or homebrew. If you CIRCUMVENT any digital rights protection then you are breaking the law (depending on country).
Ok, fine!
But I think it's CRAP that they are busting all the distributors! Talk about a ***** fight! At that exact point in time there is NOTHING being done that's illegal. Aside from holding equipment that's meant to break the law. Which is why I don't understand what exactly the charge is? Accessory is the BEST they have. Possession? That's nothing! Spilled milk at best.
The problem is, the product in it's current state is setup for one thing and one thing only. Circumvention. If the chips where to be blank then they would have NOTHING ON THE GUY!!!
For example. Here in the US, pot is illegal. The sale of anything used specifically for pot is illegal (seeds.....). Yet, you can walk into any smoke shop and buy a bong. Why is that legal? Because the bong can be used for smoking tobacco. Yeah...total BS! We all know WHAT it's being used for!!!! But that doesn't matter, since it CAN be used for other legal things then the LAW CAN NOT DICTATE what the usage is prior to it's use.
So, they needs to start shipping these chips blank then there wont be a problem!
"It sends a clear message to anyone.."
It's just like the RIAA sueing that lady for over $200,000.00. They also wanted to "send a message", but it actually does the opposite. It is almost impossible to get caught with these modded consoles, just like it's really difficult to get caught filesharing. It just pisses people off, and creates more of a media backlash rather than making a bad example out of somebody.
That's funny.. today I just got SPAM in my inbox from this same Mr. Modchips in the UK. I have no problem with modchips, but these spammers are scum.
Agreed! I never did business with that guy yet I started getting his emails a month ago. Two at a time (dups)!
yes, but then they'll simply bust the websites/company offering the bios files/ flash files.
And let's not forget how eager companies are to offer updates. Take wiikey for example: they've done A LOT OF UPDATES! I think a whopping 3 updates since they first released the chips...
It really IS money! Selling chips is a good job after all! LOL. Still, I think it's stupid of him. 1st, making THAT much money SHOULD ring a fu*** bell in your head that says: "WTF, it's working TOO well" and then you stop being so NON-STOP and try doing at least a lot less money, if not, your in prison like that stupid guy.
Still, I own a lot of copy but I still buy the games I REALLY like, like DQ8 or FFX-FFXII (I sold FFX-2) or kingdom heart games,etc. Anyway, I still think that they should stop this crap since it's hard to fight temptation on free things... and after that the actual price of the games rank up and we seem to be able only to download games... If everybody would buy instead of downloading, we'd have way better prices and so we could buy more!
MrModchips has terrible service, often flat-out lies about the quality of their products, tends not to ship everything they say they will, assumes that all customer complaints are lies, and decides whether or not to sell to someone based on if they're Jews or not.
Bad service/lies/etc.:
http://www.resellerratings.com/store/MrModchips
(they even THREATENED the ratings site!)
Anti-Semitism:
http://www.scottallan.com/2006/07/boycott-mrmodchipscomuk.html
I too got an e-mail by him, and I don't even own consoles other than a psp.
I'm still wondering how they get gamer's e-mail addressess.
I never got his email. oh well.
If that stuff is true, that guy's got some guts! A bit negative to people who are of the Judaic religion, but nonetheless gutsy.
He's like Borat, just not funny, and not Jewish.
Wow wow wee wah!
I thought pirating games was illegal, but modifying consoles too? Good thing police don't bother with this kind of stuff in my country.
"This case today sets a major precedent which marks a milestone in the fight against piracy, protecting the games industry's investment in fantastic games. It sends a clear message to anyone tempted to become involved in "chipping" consoles that this is a criminal offence and will be dealt in the strongest possible way. "
Oh FFS. We don't ALL pirate games because we have modchips! Why is it always about piracy? They have other uses! A friend I know only has a modchip because he wanted the In-Game-Reset feature on his Xbox. That's IT!
I also love how they put quotes around the word "chipping", as if they were referring to it as a scene term or something.
I mean..
What else would you call it? "Chipping" is not underground terminology! It's a frigging word!
So lets try and make one...
"It sends a clear message to anyone tempted to become involved in "spunking" consoles that this is a criminal offence and will be dealt in the strongest possible way."
ROFL if u guys know of the name foofoo the moder this is one of his friends that this happened to ik because i have foofoo's im and as for moding and piracy they should both be legal ***** the law no one can stop a person from being who they are infact if any of u guys need roms or iso's or torrents go to these site's http://www.emuparadise.org/index2.php# and for torrents go to
http://isohunt.com/
http://www.mininova.org/
http://seedpeer.com/
That doesn't matter. Getting the hardware is hardest part. Software is a super quick download that can be done from any country and free of cost.
They can't bust the entire world and they would have to in order to take down NewsGroups :)