Legal case against DoA hackers dropped

Written by Wil Harris

May 23, 2005 | 10:16

Tags: #dead-or-alive #doa #hacker #nude

Companies: #tecmo

Supporters of the free world unite: Tecmo have seemingly given up their fight to stop 1337 hackers creating nude versions of their favourite games..

A federal judge dismissed the case against NinjaHacker.net, who were accused by the makers of Dead or Alive: Xtreme Beach Volleyball, Tecmo, of violating its intellectual property by fiddling with the textures.

They also claimed that damage had been done to the reputation of its DoA series of games. The gaming community was fairly adamant in its dismissal of Tecmo's claims, suggesting that, following Xtreme Beach Volleyball, there really wasn't much reputation left to defend.

The dismissal is thought to follow a settlement between the two parties that sees NinjaHacker handing over a database of up to 100 anaonymous users of the site. It remains to be seen whether Tecmo will sue individual users for copyright infringement. If it does attempt to go down this path, a judge will have to decide whether or not gamers have the right to modify games they have legally purchased.

The issue is an interesting one. Under Copyright law in the UK, buyers of works of art aren't allowed to change them, because of the harm that is believed to be done to the creator of the work of art.

Are we at a stage where games are so influential that their modification could cause harm to the reputation of their creators? What does this mean for the modding community at large?

The summary of the judgement is over at Ars, whilst you can give us your thoughts on modding and hacking games in this forum thread.
Discuss this in the forums
YouTube logo
MSI MPG Velox 100R Chassis Review

October 14 2021 | 15:04

TOP STORIES

SUGGESTED FOR YOU