Tecmo Sues Game Hackers Under DMCA

blueZhift writes "This Reuters report on CNet states that Tecmo has filed a federal lawsuit in Chicago under the Digital Millennium Copyright Act accusing the site owners and perhaps some users of game hacking site www.ninjahacker.net (now offline) of knowingly infringing on their game software. This should be another interesting test of the DMCA and just how far it can be pushed to restrict what end users can do with/to their software purchases. This might ultimately affect the legality of cheat devices like the Game Shark and even the mere sharing of cheats or exploits."

DMCA Violations

[kngthdn (820601)]

Considering how most American slashdotters (myself included) consider the DMCA to be a violation of our rights, I hope everyone will understand the urgency of my plight...I need somewhere to post this cheat code...

left-right-left-left-B-A-left-down-trigger-left-B

I can only hope Slashdot has the resources to protect my free speech. ;-)

Really, though...the DMCA sucks, but I can't see cheat codes being a violation while game makers keep putting them in on purpose. Aren't they the ones writing code to do different things when we enter the codes in? What next, prison time for opening an easter egg in Word?

Here's [archive.org] a link to the archived site, before it was taken down.

Re:DMCA Violations

[blincoln (592401)]

Really, though...the DMCA sucks, but I can't see cheat codes being a violation while game makers keep putting them in on purpose. Aren't they the ones writing code to do different things when we enter the codes in? What next, prison time for opening an easter egg in Word?

The difference here is that they appear to be filing a suit against a hacking group that modified the actual program code of their games.

This to me is an incredible abuse of the DMCA. Hacking a game is like modifying anything else you've bought. It's not like game hackers generally distribute the developer's code, just a set of instructions for modifying the code that is already sitting on other people's consoles or PCs.

IMO this is the equivalent of a car manufacturer suing the makers of nitrous oxide systems or aftermarket body kits.

I'm not even sure why they care anyway - when I had more free time, hacking games was in some ways more fun for me than actually playing them. I extended the play time of Soul Reaver to something like 500 hours because of my extensive hacking of the PC version, for example.

Re:DMCA Violations

[ThaReetLad (538112)]

Well I personally believe this is a serious let off for people who use cheats in online gaming. I've been lobbying for a new amendment to castrate anyone caught using or creating cheats, so this seems rather tame. I'm just not sure it's a big enough deterrent/punishment.

Re:DMCA Violations

[Wordsmith (183749)]

Using copyright law is NOT an acceptable angle of attack on the cracks, as copyright shouldn't govern what the recipient of IP can do with it once it's received (beyond preventing redistribution).*

THEre's nothing to stop the server operators from using any of the many anti-cheat tools to detect modified copies, and prevent them from taking part in network play. Use a technical solution, not a legal one.

*I'm an anti-IP nut and don't believe ideas can be owned, so I don't believe in the concept of copyright anyway. But at least keep it consistent with its intended purpose.

Re:DMCA Violations

[rpdillon (715137)]

No, it is they who are priviledged: priviledged to be able to put a product to market that they may or may not be lucky enough to have me actually PAY for.

You've got everything backwards; they are at the consumer's mercy, not the other way around. You are correct that I do not "own" the software I "buy", but I own the right to use it, and you are incorrect when you say they can revoke it at any time. They cannot - when you buy the software, you have entered into an agreement. As soon as they take your money, they OWE you the right to play that game or use that piece of software. If it requires online access through one of their servers, they OWE you servers that are operational so you can use the product you paid them money for. And, in fact, I can do most anything I want with it, so long as it does not infringe on their rights granted by copyright law.

Some licenses do mention "no reverse engineering". There are two main points to mention in that regard:
1) Reverse engineering is a well recognized, legitimate activity within copyright law. Both copyright law itself, as well as the DMCA have exclusions for reverse engineering. Acting like it is a bad thing is absurd.
2) Very few companies prohibit reverse engineering in the EULA (Blizzard is one that I know of that does prohibit it). This is because they know that reverse engineering is (generally) protected, so long as it does not facilitate unauthorized distribution of the software (hence, the DMCA).

Lastly, to make an argument that someone should EXPECT for a EULA to contain wording that removes their rights, to which they should adhere, without ever SEEING the contract BEFORE the sale takes place is completely inane. This is a reflection of the *sad* state our copyright system has fallen into. You're a consumer, you should be fighting for your rights. As the adage goes, the price of freedom is eternal vigilance. The moment we (as a population) stop caring about our rights, is the moment they will be taken away.

Do not forget:
"Beware those who would deny you information,
for in their hearts they dream themselves your master."

Wonder who made those cheats in the first place...

[deejaymaxx (253408)]

IDDQD

Now sue me.

Re:Wonder who made those cheats in the first place

[FluffyPanda (821763)]

They aren't being sued for the cheats, they are being sued for making skins (including a bunch of nude ones that TECMO doesn't seem to like) for these games.

Apparantly they had to reverse engineer the games to make these skins and therefore they are being sued under the cover of the DMCA (natch).

Personally I think it's a bitch that modifying something that you've paid for, to add value to it so that others are more likely to want to pay for it in the future is seen as a suable offence by TECMO. Bioware, Id, Valve and others make it as easy as possible to make mods since the community efforts can add considerable value to the product at zero cost to the developers.

Counterstrike anyone?

Take a stand!

[mejesster (813444)]

I hope at this point, some enterprising and idealistic lawyer will finally take a stand for the right of the individual to use and modify his property as he sees fit.

Sit back down.

[Animaether (411575)]

You already can't "use and modify" your property as you see fit.

I.e. you can't drive your car at 200MPh - that is to say, you can. But it's against the law.

You can't mod your car with a spoiler that's twice the width of your car - that is to say, you can. But it's against the law. At least driving on public roads with one is.

What's being argued here, now, is that you can't hack the game and distribute the hack. That is to say, you can. But it may be against the law (the DMCA one).

Btw.. the article refer

Re:Sit back down.

[kngthdn (820601)]

From the Slashdot article:

This might ultimately affect the legality of cheat devices like the Game Shark and even the mere sharing of cheats or exploits.

The other article might not make upsurd claims like that, but this one does!

Re:Sit back down.

[MooCows (718367)]

So?

Of course you can drive your car at 200mph.. On a closed track.
Just like having a massive spoiler is perfectly legal, unless you go out on the public road.

There's (obviously) a big difference between "What you may do with your property" and "How you may use your property in the public area".

Making a massive spoiler and selling it is perfectly legal.
Hacking a game and distributing the hack should also be perfectly legal. (in a sane world)

It becomes more complicated if you use a hack in a multiplayer game, which is a service with rules. Break those rules and you can lose the right to use the service. (makes sense)

Getting sued for altering your own property in your own home is an abuse of the justice system.

Re:Sit back down.

[Fred_A (10934)]

The keyword here probably is nude. Aren't those US lawyers fun ?

Next time make a skin where they wear spacesuits.

"Now offline"

[FirienFirien (857374)]

Hooray for google. Click on the caches. [google.com]

Cheats?

[cybathug (561017)]

Nowhere in TFA or the ninjahacker page (Even though I only skimmed it) are cheat codes mentioned. The article says "hacking into popular games... to change their codes" which doesn't have ANYTHING to do with cheating, sounds more like cracking/reverse engineering. You guys are exactly right in saying using the DMCA against cheat codes is ridiculous - hence why this has nothing to do with it.

Another reason

[Pan T. Hose (707794)]

to stop using proprietary software. There are a lot of amazing free software game projects that need our support (like e.g. WorldForge [worldforge.org]) that not only allow but in fact encourage hacking. Proprietary crap is good for uneducated people who want to have a one-size-fits-all black box. For thinking people who want to learn by tinkering, free software [gnu.org] is the way to go.

Re:Another reason

[Kiryat Malachi (177258)]

What about those of us who just want to play a fun game?

Sorry, but most open source games are just not very good. The ones that are fun, are almost without exception the ones that are just ripoff versions of commercial software.

Have fun with your open source games; I like to play games with production value, which (unfortunately) limits me to commercial software. There are small commercial houses that produce cool stuff (Introversion, ChronicLogic), but even they are closed-source and commercial.

Enjoy FrozenBubble while I go play Metroid Prime. Enjoy TuxRacer while I get down to Galactic Civilizations II. And we won't even start with MMOs.

Re:Another reason

[dasunt (249686)]

Sorry, but most open source games are just not very good. The ones that are fun, are almost without exception the ones that are just ripoff versions of commercial software.

Amazingly, most of the commercial games that are fun are just ripoff versions of commercial software as well. :)

Re:Another reason

[Mant (578427)]

How the parent got modded as Insightful is beyond me. OK, the proprietary software = bad idea is popular on /. but that post is just daft.

People, educated and otherwise, play games primarily to play the game. A very small subset like tinkering with them, hence the mod community for games, which is big, but very small compared to the total number of people playing games.

I'm a coder, I write software for a living, but when I come home a play a game to unwind, I want to play a game. Generally I don't want to hack and tinker.

I followed the WorldForge link, the status of the games listed was In Development, Deprecated, Planned, Future, Status is unknown. None actually listed as finished.

Also, giving the quality of proprietary games vs free (as in speech) ones, I'm amazed at them being called "proprietary crap". Sure, some are crap, but all the really good games are proprietary too (although some have been copied by free versions). Not just good because of graphics either, but game play.

If your principles really don't let you run any proprietary software, fair enough. But don't pretend that for the main purpose of games, playing them, free software offers much yet, and it certainly isn't close to the proprietary stuff.

Except as a legal test, this is an irrelevant case

[by Anonymous Coward]

If you look at those caches, the greatest number of people on the site was 88 in mid-2003. The lawsuit is almost certainly designed to test the boundaries of the DMCA in courts, rather than to stop 20-odd people from fucking around with their DOA costumes.

Hold on a sec...

[zalas (682627)]

I haven't been able to access the site, and the article doesn't say much, but how is hacking games to have new graphics breaking copy protection? Or is there another part of the DMCA they're using? Unless they were distributing hacks to disable CD checking, then maybe, but if they're just altering gameplay, how is that breaking copy protection? Heck, if the patches are done normally, they wouldn't even need to contain any copyrighted material.

Console games...

[MagnusDredd (160488)]

This is one of the reasons I will never buy a console. Console games are geared to be throw-away games. i.e. You spend $50 on a FPS, and you are stuck with whatever maps the publisher sees fit to let you have. Even those games on the Xbox that have downloadable mods. Mods on Xbox live see: here [xbox.com] are limited to publisher produced material. This means that you will never see a candyland map for Uneal Championship, or the gigantic burger joint map for that matter.

I have a few hundred megs of Maps for games like Unreal Tournament, Doom 3, Red Faction, Starcraft, etc, etc, etc. that were created by fans. I have a friend who is really into Morrowind, which is over 3 years old, and mods that offer nudity, god mode, extra locations, extra equipment, skins, and anything else some fan has the imagination and inclination to produce. He has been playing this game off and on for 3 years... I'm still playing Neverwinter Nights.

And for the game companies: attack your customers at your peril... We don't care about IP, we don't care whether you are too puritanical for nude skins, or whatever. A new game is a toy to us that will be used as we see fit. If you want to clamp down, many people simply won't buy from you. I sure as hell won't. And furthermore this makes me feel like I have made the right decision in avoiding the console market altogether.

Contact Tecmo

[neoThoth (125081)]

We are the target market for these companies and you should take your outrage to them. Here is some contact info. Remember to be polite but firm :)

Public Relations
[e-mail]

Customer Service
[e-mail]

Game Counselor
[e-mail]

Business Accounts
[e-mail]

Public Relations
[e-mail]

Corporate Opertunities
[e-mail]

Webmaster
[e-mail]

Contact Us Via Snail Mail:
Tecmo Inc.
PO Box 5553
21213-B Hawthorne Blvd.
Torrance, CA 90503

Contact Us Via Fax or Phone:
Phone: [phone]
Fax: [phone]

Contact Us Via Email:
[e-mail]

Re:Ignore the speculation of the article

[Nuskrad (740518)]

The company specifically stated that one of the things they objected to was the custom skins availiable on the site. A spokesperson said the company is seeking $1,000 to $100,000 in damages for every custom skin swapped over the website. More information in this register article [theregister.co.uk]

Re:Just to add to the flurry of jokes

[kyojin the clown (842642)]

The Ataris named a song after that cheat code. Are Konami going to sue The Ataris? Will the RIAA step in to protect their artists rights? What about Atari? Who are they going to sue?

Oh God, I'm being sucked into a whirlpool of recursivity!

Re:America's Army

[Fred_A (10934)]

There are nude skins for AA ???

Eww.