Editing Modchip (section)

== Legality ==
One of the most prominent functions of many modchips—the circumvention of copy protection mechanisms—is outlawed by many countries' copyright laws such as the [[Digital Millennium Copyright Act]] in the United States, the [[copyright and Information Society Directive 2001|European Copyright Directive]] and its various implementations by the EU member countries, and the [[copyright law of Australia#Copyright Act 1968|Australian Copyright Act]]. Other laws may apply to the many diversified functions of a modchip, e.g. Australian law specifically allowing the circumvention of region coding.

The ambiguity of applicable law, its nonuniform interpretation by the courts, and constant profound changes and amendments to copyright law do not allow for a definitive statement on the legality of modchips. A modchip's legality under a country's legislature may only be individually asserted in court.

Most of the very few cases that have been brought before a court ended with the conviction of the modchip merchant or the manufacturer under the respective country's anti-circumvention laws. A small number of cases in the United Kingdom and Australia were dismissed under the argument that a system's copy protection mechanism would not be able to prevent the actual infringement of copyright—the actual process of copying game media—and therefore cannot be considered an effective [[copy protection|technical protection measure]] protected by anti-circumvention laws.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.bailii.org/ew/cases/EWCA/Crim/2008/1324.html |title=Higgs v R (2008) EWCA Crim 1324 (24 June 2008) |publisher=Bailii.org |access-date=2012-04-03}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.austlii.edu.au/au/cases/cth/HCA/2005/58.html |title=Stevens v Sony (2005) HCA 58 |publisher=Austlii.edu.au |access-date=2012-04-03}}</ref> In 2006, Australian copyright law has been amended to effectively close this legal loophole.<ref>[http://www.austlii.edu.au/au/legis/cth/num_act/caa2006213/ Australian Copyright Amendment Act 2006]</ref>

In a 2017 lawsuit against a retailer, a Canadian court ruled in favor of Nintendo under anti-circumvention provisions in [[copyright law of Canada|Canadian copyright law]], which prohibit any breaching of technical protection measures. The court ruled that even though the retailer claimed the products could be used for homebrew, thus asserting exemptions for maintaining interoperability, the court ruled that because Nintendo offers development kits for its platforms, interoperability could be achieved without breaching TPMs, and thus the defence is invalid.<ref>{{cite web|last1=Geist|first1=Michael|author-link1=Michael Geist|title=Canadian DMCA in Action: Court Awards Massive Damages in First Major Anti-Circumvention Copyright Ruling|date=3 March 2017|url=http://www.michaelgeist.ca/2017/03/canadian-dmca-in-action-court-issues-massive-damage-award-in-first-major-anti-circumvention-copyright-ruling/|access-date=3 March 2017}}</ref>

In Japan, modchips were outlawed as part of new legislation in 2018 which made savegame editing and console modding illegal.<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.gamespot.com/articles/japan-makes-it-illegal-to-mod-consoles/1100-6464178/|title=Japan Makes It Illegal To Mod Consoles|website=[[GameSpot]]|date=10 January 2019|access-date=19 October 2024|archive-date=|archive-url=}}</ref>