A group of alleged Nintendo Switch hackers are being sued by Nintendo for causing “tremendous harm” to the company in a new court filing. The lawsuit alleges that these hackers have enabled Nintendo Switch modding and game piracy as central issues.
Two lawsuits have been filed last Friday by the Japanese hardware and software manufacturer. The first targets the owner of the “Uberchips” website over a third-party device for the console. The second lawsuit, meanwhile, goes after a number of anonymous individuals hiding behind online aliases.
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“The sole purpose of the Circumvention Devices and the SX OS is to hijack the Nintendo Switch by circumventing its Technological Measures, thereby allowing the Nintendo Switch to be used for massive intellectual property theft and infringement,” stated one of the lawsuits according to Polygon.
While the software and hardware created by Nintendo Switch hackers can be used for game piracy, it can also be used for more benign purposes like modding a console. Regardless of a user’s intent, these devices probably have to circumvent technological protections in place and likely violate the Digital Millenium Copyright Act.
The anonymous hackers may be difficult to track down, but Uberchips is allegedly operated by Tom Dilts Jr. At the time of writing, it appears that he has shut down his operation and apologized via a message on the device’s website.
“I am sorry to inform everyone, but we must refund all pre-orders and cancel all pre-orders for SX Core and SX Lite,” states the message on the Uberchips website.
“We intended no harm by selling pre-orders of this product.”
