Nintendo Files DMCA Takedowns On Switch Modchip Firmware

Nintendo has filed a new wave of DMCA takedowns targeting projects that can enable Switch piracy.

As reported by Tom’s Hardware, Nintendo’s latest strikes have taken down 144 repositories for Switch modchip firmware. This firmware was used for microchips that, when installed into older models of the Switch 1, allowed users to run custom software, mod games, and more. Naturally, this also means that these modchips can be used for pirating Switch games, which Nintendo argues in its case for the takedowns.

The reported repositories offer, link to, or otherwise provide access to mod chip firmware including but not limited to SX Core, SX Lite, Picofly, or HWFLY. The firmware allows Nintendo Switch modchips to illegally circumvent Nintendo’s TPMs in order to run illegal copies of Nintendo Switch games. Specifically, during operation, the mod chip firmware at the reported repositories circumvents the technological protection measures put in place on the Nintendo Switch console by bypassing the boot sequence.

Thus, they are primarily designed to and unlawfully “circumvent a technological measure that effectively controls access to a work protected under” the DMCA, and distribution of these mod chip firmware constitutes unlawful trafficking in technology that is “primarily designed or produced for the purpose of circumventing a technological measure that effectively controls access” to copyrighted works.

Rather than go after the chip manufacturers, it seems Nintendo chose to halt the distribution of software that allowed these chips to run. This follows on a number of previous DMCA efforts aimed at Github repositories, primarily at emulation software.

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