Developers of the open-source Nintendo Switch emulator Yuzu have decided to settle the conflict with Nintendo out of court, agreeing to all the giant’s demands and paying $2.4 million in compensation, Endgadget reports.
The Nintendo lawsuit claimed that Tropic Haze (the emulator’s developers) violated the provisions of the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA), which are aimed at combating illegal use of copyright.
The company claims that without decrypting Nintendo’s encryption, unauthorized copies of the games would not be able to be played on PCs or Android devices. The company described Yuzu as software designed primarily to circumvent technological limitations.
In addition to paying Nintendo $2.4 million, Tropic Haze must permanently refrain from offering, marketing, distributing, or trading in the Yuzu emulator or any similar software that circumvents Nintendo’s technical protection measures.
Tropic Haze must also remove all Nintendo tools and cryptographic keys used in the emulator and turn over all circumvention devices and modified hardware to Nintendo. It even has to hand over the emulator’s web domain to Nintendo.
Taking into account the fact that the American judicial system uses case law, Yuzu developers could actually try to defend their case in court, as the developers of the Play Station emulator Bleem!
During the Bleem! Company v. Sony, the judge recognized the development and sale of emulators to run software on other platforms as perfectly legal, but legal costs forced the company to cease operations and later to sell its assets at auctions.
So, perhaps, Tropic Haze decided to just save themselves some time.
Loading comments …