The UK high court has recently upheld Nintendo’s claims that some websites have infringed on their trademarks. The litigious gaming company was able to persuade the court to require UK internet providers to block accesses to websites that enable Switch game piracy.
The injunction requires the five major ISPs in the UK – namely, Sky, BT, EE, TalkTalk, and Virgin Media to block or at least impede access to four websites. These four websites help in the distribution of pirated Switch games, modified hardware, as well as provide information that gives instructions on how to modify consoles to enable pirated games from becoming playable on the platform.
Although Nintendo has started closing the loophole that hackers are using to install custom firmware, the company is still uncertain if hackers are still trying to hack the system software running on Nintendo Switch.
In the announcement, a Nintendo spokesperson told Eurogamer that the UK High Court has found it unlawful to sell and distribute circumvention devices for the Nintendo Switch.
“Today, the UK High Court found the sale and distribution of ‘circumvention’ devices for the Nintendo Switch unlawful,” a Nintendo spokesperson told Eurogamer. “Nintendo is pleased that the UK High Court has confirmed that dealing in devices or software that enable piracy on Nintendo Switch systems is unlawful.
“This decision will help protect the UK games industry and the more than 1800 developers worldwide that create games for the Nintendo Switch platform, and who rely on legitimate sales of games for their livelihood and to keep bringing quality content to gamers.”
As many quickly point out during rulings such as this, it’s easily possible to bypass this injunction with a VPN or a TOR browser – something those even moderately savvy can easily do.
The Nintendo Switch was cracked in 2018. Since then there have been several online ISO dumps and emulators that work with the cracked version of the console.
