Quick Jump Daily Digest

Thank you for your interest in the Quick Jump Daily Digest. Get notified of all new content on QJ in our free Daily Digest. To subscribe, enter your email address below and click the subscribe button.

Cancel and Return to page

Mr. Modchips loses to ELSPA in court battle, appeal granted

Posted Oct 25, 2007 at 1:12AM EST by QJ Staff

Listed in: News Tags: ELSPA, Michael Rawlinson, piracy, UK, Viper

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.

This story sucks? This story rocks!

Vote Now!

(0)

(0)

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! — NeroMaverick 2007-10-25 04:30

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...

# WTF!?!?!?!?! — ISOHaven 2007-10-25 04:56

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!

# Bull... — Billie 2007-10-25 05:02

"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.

# hmm — dsi 2007-10-25 05:08

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.

# WTF!?!?!?!?! — ISOHaven 2007-10-25 05:24

Agreed! I never did business with that guy yet I started getting his emails a month ago. Two at a time (dups)!

# blank chips — iamback(unregistered) 2007-10-25 05:39

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...

# 2 000 000$US? my god — platon 2007-10-25 06:25

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!

# FYI: — FreePlay 2007-10-25 13:21

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.

# Evidence — FreePlay 2007-10-25 13:24

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

# weird — Churro 2007-10-25 13:26

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.

# spam — iamback(unregistered) 2007-10-25 16:15

I never got his email. oh well.

# oh snap — iamback(unregistered) 2007-10-25 16:19

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!

# This is bull***** — Pwner1 2007-10-25 21:25

I thought pirating games was illegal, but modifying consoles too? Good thing police don't bother with this kind of stuff in my country.

# aargh!!!! — Jaxdia 2007-10-26 01:41

"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!

# Hmm — Jaxdia 2007-10-26 01:45

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."

# ***K The Law — spore89 2007-10-26 14:17

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/

# WTF!?!?!?!?! — ISOHaven 2007-10-29 06:40

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 :)

Refresh comments list

Add comment

JComments

HOT GAMING NEWS | LATEST GAMING SEARCHES | FORUMS

QUICK JUMP DAILY DIGEST

Welcome to QJ.Net!

If you want your comments to go live without waiting for moderation, you need to be logged in. Being logged in has its benefits:

Logged in members do not wait for their comments to be approved.
Logged in members can create Profiles to be seen by other users.

So why wait? Create an account or login now! It's easy, quick, and free.

To get started, use the LOGIN boxes, or the REGISTER link below!

Want to learn more about the team who brings you the QJ news?

Read about them now!

HOT FLASH GAMES

PSP Categories

• 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

Sitemap

Newest Downloads

05/22/2012 - 05/28/2012

RGLoader 0v290 Beta	05/27/2012
WiiMod 3.2	05/27/2012
WiiMC v1.2.7	05/25/2012
True Blue Firmeware v2.7	05/24/2012
3DS Video Converter v2.3	05/24/2012
Mobile Assault 1.8.2	05/24/2012
PSP Tools Alpha 0.1	05/22/2012
Newton War	05/22/2012
DaedalusX64 r766	05/22/2012
PSPMarble	05/22/2012
The Undead 4 - Nazi Zombies	05/21/2012
3DSExplorer v1.2.1	05/21/2012
J-Runner v0.2 Beta 275	05/19/2012
Priiloader 0.8 Beta 3	05/19/2012
Quake Rev PAK release 4	05/19/2012

Most Comments this Month
Sound Off: On Game Expirat..	(57)
Pokemon Liquid Crystal! K..	(12)
neur0n Knocks Out An Updat..	(4)
Homebrew - PSP/PS3 PKG Dec..	(3)
Hellcat Working On Recover..	(3)
PSP Homebrew: 6.xx PRO Onl..	(2)
PSP homebrew - Lamecraft o..	(2)
Japanese gamers fire back..	(2)
PSP homebrew - Lamecraft o..	(2)
PSP homebrew - GoTube v1.2	(1)
Custom Firmware PRO-B9 for..	(1)
PSP homebrew - Prometheus..	(1)
Bust Out Your PSP For This..	(1)
PSP homebrew - PSP Install..	(1)
GTA:LCS Cheat Trainer for..	(1)
Custom Firmware 6.35 PRO-B..	(1)
GTA: LCS Cheat Device v0.3	(1)
Square Enix announces Fina..	(1)
LUA Little Fighter 2 v1.60..	(1)
PSP homebrew - LameCraft	(1)
VSHPong Gamma now with On/..	(1)
CSPortable 0.74 - added ne..	(1)
Modern Warfare 3 visits Ji..	(1)
FreePlay: eLoader for the..	(1)
PSP homebrew - CFW 6.20, 6..	(1)

Top Jumps this Month
neur0n Knocks Out An..	(95)
Bust Out Your PSP Fo..	(84)
Pokemon Liquid Cryst..	(81)
PSP homebrew - LameC..	(62)
PSP Comics Reader v2..	(49)
PSP Homebrew: 6.xx P..	(41)
PSP Homebrew - PSPDi..	(39)
Hellcat Working On R..	(39)
PSP homebrew - DSonP..	(38)
neur0n Gives You Mor..	(36)
PSP GBA v1.2: Gamebo..	(33)
Sound Off: On Game E..	(30)
Another CFW Goodie F..	(27)
Soywiz Releases PSP..	(26)
Sound Off: Should Ap..	(25)
Homebrew - PSP/PS3 P..	(23)
GTA: Liberty City St..	(22)
PSP homebrew - Mario..	(20)
PSP Google Chrome po..	(19)
EA Shuts Down More S..	(19)
PSP homebrew - PSP..	(18)
PSP homebrew - Audio..	(18)
PSP homebrew - PSP L..	(17)
PSP CFW: 6.60 ME & L..	(16)
PSX2PSP v0.7: a new..	(16)

HOT GAMING NEWS TOPICS

Quick Jump Daily Digest

Mr. Modchips loses to ELSPA in court battle, appeal granted

Related Stories:

Comments

Add comment

Newest Downloads