[UPDATE] The entry on the Dolphin blog has been changed slightly to more accurately reflect the situation. While their original post yesterday said Valve had received a DMCA takedown notice from Nintendo, the revision now claims it is a cease & desist order citing the Anti-Circumvention provisions in the DMCA.

Pierre Bourdon, a former member of the Dolphin team, has claimed on Mastodon that the order originated with Valve. He reports that Valve reached out to Nintendo regarding Dolphin, and Nintendo issued the C&D in response. If this is the case, it would impact Dolphin's available options for recourse as Valve retains the right to remove listings from their storefront. It also means, however, that Nintendo is not pursuing legal action against the Dolphin team right now.

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[ORIGINAL STORY] Back in March, the team behind the Dolphin GameCube/Wii emulator announced that they would be bringing Dolphin to Steam sometime in the second quarter of 2023. However, the release seems to be indefinitely delayed after Valve received a DMCA notice from Nintendo. Posting on their blog today, the team announced that Steam had contacted them to let them know of the takedown notice and that the page will be down "until the matter is settled." The team is currently investigating their options and promise a more in-depth update as soon as possible.

PC Gamer claims to have reviewed the document, dated today, May 26. It reads, in part:

Because the Dolphin emulator violates Nintendo’s intellectual property rights, including but not limited to its rights under the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA)’s Anti-Circumvention and AntiTrafficking provisions, 17 U.S.C. § 1201, we provide this notice to you of your obligation to remove the offering of the Dolphin emulator from the Steam store.

The Dolphin emulator operates by incorporating these cryptographic keys without Nintendo’s authorization and decrypting the ROMs at or immediately before runtime. Thus, use of the Dolphin emulator unlawfully 'circumvent a technological measure that effectively controls access to a work protected under' the Copyright Act.

Nintendo is attacking the Dolphin Emulator under the DMCA's Anti-Circumvention provisions, citing the inclusion of the Wii's common key in Dolphin's source code. Nintendo argues that because the common key allows Dolphin to decrypt data, it allows users to illegally circumvent measures put in place to control access to works protected under the Copyright Act - in this case, GameCube and Wii games.

Dolphin is somewhat unique in distributing this key already built in to its source code, as most emulators require the end user to provide a key or BIOS on their own. Emulator frontend RetroArch has also been added to Steam but, contrary to Dolphin, hasn't been the target of DMCA attacks by Nintendo, likely because its builds and cores require external BIOS and key files not found within their source code.

As of now, it appears as if this only affects Dolphin Emulator's upcoming release on Steam. It is still available to download on the official website.

 

[stanleyopar2000]

This was completely expected. Plus Nintendo is now inching closer and closer towards shutting down emulators, no matter if the code was legally written or not.

Post automatically merged: May 27, 2023

They won’t because they would have to target the actual Core DLC that emulates Nintendo devices.

why do I feel like in our fucking lifetime we're going to have another court decision involving NOA and emulation but it won't go the way like it did with BLEEM...

 

[_47iscool]

Is Soyny with their censorstation and NintenDMCA competing to see who can be the most moronic?

 

[17hitcombooo]

nintendo don't be a fucking sore loser and dmca everything challenge (fail)

 

[Nincompoopdo]

Nintendo is now making emulators their enemies after people playing leaked TotK 10 days before launch.

They went after SXOS which requires people to buy actual Switch hardware to use, with emulators - you don't even need to buy their hardware. The longer they drag on without releasing next gen hardware, the worse it gets for Nintendo.

 

[scoobydude51]

This isn’t good.

 

[stanleyopar2000]

This isn’t good.

Great....this gives them ammunition to shut Dolphin down completely (which is what they are ultimately aiming for)

 

[Xzi]

Because the Dolphin emulator violates Nintendo’s intellectual property rights

> Proceeds to name none of the specific IP rights being violated

Hopefully Valve does end up pushing back on this bullshit, for the sake of PC gaming in general.

Quoting the DMCA: "the Dolphin emulator operates by incorporating these cryptographic keys without Nintendo’s authorization and decrypting the ROMs at or immediately before runtime."...this is objectively true. I just checked, the Wii Common Key is in the emulator source code.

When does this stop being a legitimate excuse? If you drop a hundred dollar bill on the ground, it's not a surprise when somebody picks it up. In other words: if Nintendo doesn't want their keys exposed to the world, they have a responsibility to secure them properly, and they've never done so. The legal system isn't meant to be used as a tool to cover for your own damn negligence.

 

[The Catboy]

I wish people would fight the DMCA in the courts, it seriously doesn't help anyone beyond big corporations

 

[scoobydude51]

I wish people would fight the DMCA in the courts, it seriously doesn't help anyone beyond big corporations

That’s why they’re only targeting the small groups/people. They know that can win by just bankrupting them in legal fees

 

[NakedFaerie]

Does dolphin have any nintendo code in it?
You can download the app and its not breaking any laws. Its the roms thst do it so without any roms nintenDOH cant touch them.

So itll be back soon.

 

[megahog2012]

Might wanna check this out...

Post automatically merged: May 27, 2023

This isn’t good.

Sorry was supposed to put this above...

 

[Kioku]

> Proceeds to name none of the specific IP rights being violated

Hopefully Valve does end up pushing back on this bullshit, for the sake of PC gaming in general.


When does this stop being a legitimate excuse? If you drop a hundred dollar bill on the ground, it's not a surprise when somebody picks it up. In other words: if Nintendo doesn't want their keys exposed to the world, they have a responsibility to secure them properly, and they've never done so. The legal system isn't meant to be used as a tool to cover for your own damn negligence.

That’s a slippery slope… If the courts were to hypothetically allow this instance to slide, it sets the precedent for some bad actors to compromise other companies and systems. “Ninty fucked up” isn’t a valid excuse to use their proprietary keys in your program. Doesn’t work that way, nor should it. This isn’t losing a $100 bill.

 

[jbheydude]

Bro dolphin devs should remove that string of code from dolphin i guess

 

[JuanMena]

I literally did this when I read the title:

Maybe Nintendo is bringing GameCube titles to Switch Online Services?

 

[megahog2012]

Nah, this is Nintendo Business shenanigans here. Ninty's basically playing catchup now since that TOTK leak lol. Although, it does seem we may get to witness Nintendo's version of the SONY vs bleem case!

 

[console]

Nintendo company is wrong. Emulators are not illegal and made by developers. That's anti-trust with Nintendo company is not doing any right. Steam don't doing any wrong. Nintendo made bad move that's why. People should not trust Nintendo anymore and let Nintendo company lost some where and waste time. Double thumb down to Nintendo. Crazy!

 

[smilodon]

Pretty stupid from the dolphin team to include private keys from Nintendo. Switch emulators got it right at least.
Here is the related key in the code : https://github.com/dolphin-emu/dolp...30ac4dd999/Source/Core/Core/IOS/IOSC.cpp#L575

 

[DefeatOf13]

Why dolphin and not Retroarch?

 

[megahog2012]

Me thinks Retroarch is next on the chopping block... That or They are in the process of preparing to send a DMCA to Valve, it's removal hasn't set in stone yet... Can't imagine Nintendo just taking out Dolphin as they can clearly see that Retroarch is there...

 

[SamuraiErikku]

Nintendo doesn't go after Amazon & eBay for Emulator Boxes with their games pre-loaded on those devices same goes with the Fake NES & SNES Classic Editions........ Yet when it comes to Emulators & Homebrew Nintendo freak out about it.