Nintendo Accuses Console-Emulator of Hacking Mario Kart, Zelda
news.bloomberglaw.com
The video game emulator Yuzu circumvents encryption on Nintendo Switch games, making them available on other platforms like personal computers and mobile phones in violation of the Digital Millennium Copyright Act, according to a lawsuit from Nintendo of America Inc.

Nintendo’s full case filing

https://twitter.com/stephentotilo/status/1762576284817768457/

"NEW: Nintendo is suing the creators of popular Switch emulator Yuzu, saying their tech illegally circumvents Nintendo’s software encryption and facilitates piracy. Seeks damages for alleged violations and a shutdown of the emulator.

Notes 1 million copies of Tears of the Kingdom downloaded prior to game’s release; says Yuzu’s Patreon support doubled during that time. Basically arguing that that is proof that Yuzu’s business model helps piracy flourish."

  • Grangle1@lemm.eeEnglish
    69·
    10 months ago

    Don’t know how good a case Nintendo has here unless it can prove that Yuzu itself contains proprietary code that allows the ROMs to be played. If the decryption is being done on the ROMs’ end, then that’s just another reason to go after the ones dumping and distributing the ROMs. Nintendo couldn’t even substantially stop Dolphin, and Dolphin actually had a decryption key straight from Wii firmware in it. Good luck to them, but they’re likely going for the wrong legal target. Taking down what ROM sites they can (which would legally be a lot easier than the emulator makers) is just getting rid of drops in the ocean of the ROMs’ spread, but they’re the target Nintendo should be going after.

    • Kevin@lemmy.worldEnglish
      49·
      10 months ago

      Somebody correct me if I’m wrong, but I don’t think Yuzu has any proprietary code. Folks have to go to other websites to download the Switch firmware and keys needed to play games.

      • echo64@lemmy.worldEnglish
        11·
        10 months ago

        That’s not really enough to be not in violation. For example, vlc can’t natively decrypt blurays. This is because both its not bundled with the decryption library nor the decryption keys. Vlc out of the box can not decrypt blurays.

        If yuzu can, if you provide some keys, eh that might be enough for them to win. It’s certainly not enough to push nintendo away. You unfortunately need to be extremely careful around the dmca stuff.

        • evranch@lemmy.caEnglish
          9·
          10 months ago

          You don’t just need to provide keys, but an entire firmware dump. Yuzu contains no executable Switch code AFAIK

          • echo64@lemmy.worldEnglish
            2·
            10 months ago

            Not claiming it does. It seems like it might have the tooling to break copyright enforcement if you give it the right keys is the problem.

        • MolochAlter@lemmy.worldEnglish
          2·
          10 months ago

          It really depends on the kind of encryption being used. I’m pretty sure if it’s a common algorithm that logic does not stand.

    • Dudewitbow@lemmy.zipEnglish
      11·
      10 months ago

      they basically have a weak argument because they claim yuzu gives you links to the tools to get the keys to enable piracy.

      • Nioxic@lemmy.dbzer0.comEnglish
        2·
        10 months ago

        indeed. they should sue fitgirl instead, who distributes an emulator, with an included rom and keys etc. ready to play

    • Da_Boom@iusearchlinux.fyiEnglish
      6·
      10 months ago

      Nope, you have to obtain the decryption keys yourself - I spent hours hunting around online for a set of console keys and firmware dump to get the emulator working on my steam deck.

      If you own a moddable switch you can dump the keys legally, but I don’t plan on doing that any time soon.