Mod Chips: Legal

Post by trog @ 01:28pm 06/10/05 | 38 Comments

Great news today for console owners - the Australian High Court has ruled that mod chips are legal:

THE High Court of Australia has unanimously ruled today that mod-chips are legal, a decision which will have far reaching implications for computer game manufacturers.
...
The High Court appeal rested on two issues. The first issue was whether a mod-chip circumvents a technological protection measure and therefore breaches Section 116A of the Copyright Act.

Maybe now you can import those titles that aren't actually for sale in Australia and play them legally!

Update: news.com.au have updated the original article to remove an incorrect line (which I carelessly quoted!) and add the following bad news:

While the decision is likely to please gaming enthusiasts - settling a long-running dispute over the legality of the chips under Australia's current copyright laws - their victory is likely to be short-lived.

The federal Government has agreed to amend Australia's copyright laws to outlaw mod chips as part of its trade agreement with the US.

mod chips

Latest Comments

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smart
Posted 01:30pm 06/10/05

and talk about them on z forums!

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Xy
Posted 01:34pm 06/10/05

Now somebody tell them k***s at EB about this so i can keep my warranty on my ps2 if i get it chipped.
Yeah right they would laugh me out of the store.

P.S Nice lock for great justice trog ;P

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Greazy
Posted 02:01pm 06/10/05

Now somebody tell them k***s at EB about this so i can keep my warranty on my ps2 if i get it chipped.
Yeah right they would laugh me out of the store.

Yeah they will laugh at you. Not for saying that mod-chips are now legal, but for saying that moddifying your console wont break the warranty.

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Xy
Posted 02:03pm 06/10/05

Eggzachery, and therefore untill my warranty runs out this is useless to me :/

By which time i should have a ps3.

last edited by Xy at 14:03:58 06/Oct/05

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Dan
Posted 02:09pm 06/10/05

So a great victory for importers, now the real question, where's the best place to get a PS2 mod installed? And don't say blade (overpriced).

If anyone knows someone that does them privately, give me an address. Or alternatively, are there any reasonably priced solderless chips worth looking into?

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shad
Posted 02:10pm 06/10/05

It's also legal to smash a console with a hammer if it's yours, doesn't mean the warranty will uphold.

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Xy
Posted 02:14pm 06/10/05

Also...

"While the decision is likely to please gaming enthusiast's -- settling a long-running dispute over the legality of the chips under Australia's current copyright laws -- their victory is likely to be short-lived.

The federal Government has agreed to amend Australia's copyright laws to outlaw mod chips as part of its trade agreement with the US."

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A_W
Posted 02:17pm 06/10/05

The court quashed Sony's argument that the mod-chip was a practical way to prevent copyright infringement.

Shouldn't that be commit copyright infringment Trog? I mean if mod chips *prevented* copyright infringement and not assisted it, then Sony and others would not have a problem with it.

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Mantorok
Posted 02:22pm 06/10/05

Shouldn't that be commit copyright infringment Trog?

trog didn't write the Australian IT article.

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A_W
Posted 02:25pm 06/10/05

Yeah good point. Just thought he'd correct it himself. I know i do when i quote news.

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HERMITech
Posted 03:31pm 06/10/05

Yeah good point. Just thought he'd correct it himself. I know i do when i quote news.

But then your not actually quoting as such ..

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Hashy
Posted 03:36pm 06/10/05

Is chipping legal in America? I'm thinking no. I'm also thinking Sony, Nintendo and Microsoft of Australia's interest in the in Australian console market just dropped 10 fold.

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TufNuT
Posted 03:44pm 06/10/05

so johnny howard says its illegal and high court says it is legal..
is it or isnt it?

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GB
Posted 03:56pm 06/10/05

Australia just sucks. Correct me if i'm wrong but isn't it still illegal to put songs on to any kind of mp3 player? All of Australia's laws concerning IT are just stupid.

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Sc00bs
Posted 03:59pm 06/10/05

Where is the best place to get it modded? and how much does it cost?

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natslovR
Posted 07:30pm 06/10/05

Does that mean you can now unlock any locked modchip threads?

Now all we needs is some good FTA cases to hit the high court. Sorry MPAA, your implementation of region coding in DVDs contradicts the FTA with the US as well as local laws on competition. Even better would be everyone that had purchased a region 4 locked DVD receiving a substantial refund due to the MPAAs illegal price fixing.

Note: MPAA used as a generic label for the hollywood dvd industry. It may not really be appropriate use of the acronym in this case

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sKryBe
Posted 08:44pm 06/10/05

Didn't this go through like a year ago (based on Office of Fair Trade recommendations) then get overturned on appeal? So now it's been appealed again and the original decision reinstated?

Man the lawyers must love this sort of stuff... it's a license to print money for them.

Sadly this will probably be legislated against by a different arm of the government thus rendering all the consumer rights wins null and void.

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Tanaka Khan
Posted 02:46am 07/10/05

* N U K E D * By trog

LOL...Nukes himself...someone take a screenshot!

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Twisted
Posted 08:41am 07/10/05

What does this mean for people banned from Xbox Live for using a mod chip?

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Khel
Posted 10:04am 07/10/05

Nothing, because legal or not, Microsoft decided right at the start that nobody with a modified console is allowed on Live. Its the only sensible way for them to run Live really, I mean, if you allowed people to play on Live with modchips enabled, there'd be hacks galore.

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0z
Posted 10:33am 07/10/05

What does this mean for people banned from Xbox Live for using a mod chip?

Means nothing, your xbox has a serial eeprom with a serial number that number is whats banned, that number is also used to lock you hard drive.

There is a way around getting unbanned by changing the eeproms number but thats a very risky thing can make your xbox into a nice paper wieght.

last edited by 0z at 10:33:41 07/Oct/05

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Splash
Posted 11:57am 07/10/05

There is a way around getting unbanned by changing the eeproms number but thats a very risky thing can make your xbox into a nice paper wieght.

*insert xbox are huge lol joke here*

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trog
Posted 12:51pm 07/10/05

Shouldn't that be commit copyright infringment Trog? I mean if mod chips *prevented* copyright infringement and not assisted it, then Sony and others would not have a problem with it.

Yeh, you're totally right - I didn't read it carefully when I posted it, and then when I read your post I read it again and still got it wrong!

news.com.au since deleted that crap and replaced it with all new stuff.

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trog
Posted 01:04pm 07/10/05

Also, make sure you note the update about the Free Trade Act

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orbitor
Posted 01:38pm 07/10/05

I only bought an xbox because it could be modded for the awesomeness that is XBMC.

I only bought many of the PC parts I did because I could overclock, volt-mod, BIOS mod, etc. them.

I only bought my car because I could modify it.

I would only buy a PSP because of the potential to mod it and run homebrew code.

Pretty much anything factory and stock is just boring to me. I would be totally turned off buying a s***load of stuff if I couldn't customise it to my purposes.

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parabol
Posted 01:57pm 07/10/05

Pretty much anything factory and stock is just boring to me

I agree. I mod pretty much everything that comes my way to an extent.

Though some chicks hate it when you try to apply Hot Coffee :/

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sKryBe
Posted 02:04pm 07/10/05

That crap with the free trade act is what's wrong with the country. Two separate Govt organisations are espousing diametrically opposed opinions on what is right and good. And to top it off consumer response has indicated that the public agrees with mod-chipping and heck so does the supreme court. Yet because our pollies in Canberra are playing suck-up with the USA we're going to have all that overturned. Sometimes I hate our country. :(

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Kimbo
Posted 02:09pm 07/10/05

Man screw America.

If I bought a game in Malaysia and wanted to play it over here because of certain 'disc region codes' I should be allowed to play it where ever I feel like.

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TufNuT
Posted 02:27pm 07/10/05

That crap with the free trade act is what's wrong with the country. Two separate Govt organisations are espousing diametrically opposed opinions on what is right and good. And to top it off consumer response has indicated that the public agrees with mod-chipping and heck so does the supreme court. Yet because our pollies in Canberra are playing suck-up with the USA we're going to have all that overturned. ~~Sometimes I hate our country.~~ hate john howard :(

fixed.

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Tuco
Posted 02:32pm 07/10/05

f*** off somewhere else then

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Fetal IceCream
Posted 01:41am 08/10/05

and after EB employee laughs at you for wanting to keep your warranty on your modded console...
they will then laugh at you, because by december this year, howard and his liberal controlled senate will have passed the amendment to the copyright laws making mod chips illegal permanantly.

and they were already on the path to doing it BEFORE the free trade agreement with USA.

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Xy
Posted 01:48am 08/10/05

That information might have been useful 2 days ago fetal, we are well up to speed now.

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nexus6
Posted 02:15pm 09/10/05

From what i have seen, every single game or dvd any of my friends have ever bought overseas has been a pirate copy. I have no problem with people playing stuff from over seas (i really hate the whole region thing) but i do have a problem with pirated stuff. Has anyone here actually bought legitimate stuff over seas. Especially from south east asia?

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Xy
Posted 02:24pm 09/10/05

Post count 5, Location canberra. hmmmm
What's it to ya fed?
Everything anyone on these boards ever buys is 100% legitimate, now run along please.

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groydis
Posted 02:50pm 09/10/05

ive bought legit games from asian countrys that you would suspect to only every sell pirated games.

i bought them because a)they came out over 2 years earlier over there b) they never came out over here c)it was bucket loads cheaper.

i

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reload!
Posted 03:42pm 09/10/05

That crap with the free trade act is what's wrong with the country. Two separate Govt organisations are espousing diametrically opposed opinions on what is right and good.

We seperate the judicial and legislative powers for a reason. If the two always conformed on everything we would have far less freedom.

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Zwan
Posted 12:28pm 05/11/05

From what i have seen, every single game or dvd any of my friends have ever bought overseas has been a pirate copy. I have no problem with people playing stuff from over seas (i really hate the whole region thing) but i do have a problem with pirated stuff. Has anyone here actually bought legitimate stuff over seas. Especially from south east asia?

Yes i bought several copies of half life 2 for about 10 aus each for my computers at home, and we all know having that game pirated is almost pointless since its almost all online.

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