[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.

 

[SubstituteCS]

Or you go the police and get them arrested, find out where the supply is coming from and shutdown the entire operation.

Again, if Dolphin are distributing Nintendo property then Nintendo should go after them directly. I understand why Valve must comply, I don't understand why they target Valve when Dolphin is 3 clicks away anyway? Or more accurately I do, N don't care about Dolphin, they care about Deck killing the Switch.

You’re reading far too much into the analogy.
The DMCA notice is a formal complaint from Nintendo informing Valve that something on Valve’s platform is violating Nintendo’s copyright. Without the DMCA, Valve wouldn’t be taking Dolphin off of Steam, Valve would be getting sued for had having it.

DMCA, for as flawed of an act that it is, at least protects companies like Valve when someone on Valve’s platform makes a mistake.

There is nothing stopping Nintendo from following up the DMCA with a C&D to Dolphin over the cryptographic keys.

 

[ertaboy356b]

Only if high performance low TPD cpus make their way out to the consumer.
Right now x86_64 has the simple advantage of being the incumbent.

If they can match ARM cpus watt per performance in terms of low wattage use, then they might be able to compete. Right now, ARM is the most used CPU in the world. Even data centers are shifting to ARM.

 

[SubstituteCS]

If they can match ARM cpus watt per performance in terms of low wattage use, then they might be able to compete. Right now, ARM is the most used CPU in the world. Even data centers are shifting to ARM.

Yes, but the only consumer ARM cpus available that don’t suck eggs are the ones in your phone, and the highly proprietary ones Apple has in their M-series systems.

ARM absolutely has a chance to win, but they need to take it before a newer, better ISA comes along.

 

[Dungeonseeker]

You’re reading far too much into the analogy.
The DMCA notice is a formal complaint from Nintendo informing Valve that something on Valve’s platform is violating Nintendo’s copyright. Without the DMCA, Valve wouldn’t be taking Dolphin off of Steam, Valve would be getting sued for had having it.

DMCA, for as flawed of an act that it is, at least protects companies like Valve when someone on Valve’s platform makes a mistake.

There is nothing stopping Nintendo from following up the DMCA with a C&D to Dolphin over the cryptographic keys.

Yeah, I'm aware and I actually agree. All I'm saying is it shows just how scared N are of the Deck. Dolphin is free and in all the main Linux repositories, removing it from Steam just seems petty.

Yes, but the only consumer ARM cpus available that don’t suck eggs are the ones in your phone, and the highly proprietary ones Apple has in their M-series systems.

ARM absolutely has a chance to win, but they need to take it before a newer, better ISA comes along.

And this is exactly why it will never happen. Through the 2000s PPC was set to take over, then ARM came along and now the smart money is actually on RISCV.

Meanwhile X86 has existed since the 1970s and nothing has ever managed to dent its market share for general home computing use. Its so well established and so deeply entrenched in the foundation of computing that replacing it would be a herculean task, some might say impossible at least until we hit the limits of lithography and are forced to move to something entirely different.

 

[Maximumbeans]

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

Me too. Just one helpful precedent could check all of this bullshit.

Post automatically merged: May 27, 2023

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.

I suspect it’s because, despite their pedigree, Nintendo doesn’t actually fully understand emulation on the level they should.

 

[SubstituteCS]

Me too. Just one helpful precedent could check all of this bullshit.

Post automatically merged: May 27, 2023

I suspect it’s because, despite their pedigree, Nintendo doesn’t actually fully understand emulation on the level they should.

History repeats itself, I remember when Apple changed to PPC since that was supposed to be the next hot thing , before succumbing to the x86 and x86_64 influence.

 

[SamuraiErikku]

This is incorrect, they did sue someone who sold bootleg emulator boxes: https://gamerant.com/soulja-boy-console-nintendo-lawsuit/

I stand corrected however there are other ones out there they went after Soulja Boy since he was an easy target & rightfully so since he was selling ROMS on the device the same devices that eBay & Amazon Sell yet Nintendo doesn't even go after for some reason.

 

[kevin corms]

Is there no penalty for dmca abuse?

 

[SMNFXCN]

Hmm, you keen for retro games to only be playable by rich collectors?

not every response is from an anti emulation perspective

 

[retrospect]

If I were being cynical I'd suggest that maybe the Dolphin devs don't want the program to be on Steam, so they listed it there without releasing it to give themselves a reason why it can't happen. Like when people showcase the first level of a game they've written so that it gets DMCA'd and then they can tell their fans they've been forced to stop working on it. Similar kind of thing. If I were being cynical...

 

[DoctorBagPhD]

Edit: replied to the wrong post.

 

[sarkwalvein]

Why dolphin and not Retroarch?

As someone explained with a Twitter some posts ago, the reason is the inclusion of a private key in the source code.
Dolphin brought it up open itself.
I think no sane person could think this is overreach or abuse of DMCA to be honest.
I think it can be fixed though.

Anyway, a recent video from MVG makes it clear:


@relauby Perhaps it would be nice to update the OP/News with info regarding either the Twitter post or the MVG video?

 

[Foxi4]

As someone explained with a Twitter some posts ago, the reason is the inclusion of a private key in the source code.
Dolphin brought it up open itself.
I think no sane person could think this is overreach or abuse of DMCA to be honest.
I think it can be fixed though.

Anyway, a recent video from MVG makes it clear:


@relauby Perhaps it would be nice to update the OP/News with info regarding either the Twitter post or the MVG video?

It’s highly debatable whether a key can be considered copyrighted material for the same reason why any specific word or number can’t be. In fact, it probably wouldn’t stand up to scrutiny in court. They’d have different grounds to be sour, but they’re not DMCA-based. Dolphin simply doesn’t want to be the next Bleem! - these proceedings cost money, and since their circumstances are different, they’d have to argue their case almost from scratch.

 

[LightBeam]

Shocked that the Dolphin team tried this to begin with lol. I don't see the appeal of running an emulator through steam, when emulators commonly require file access for use, but sure.

Convenience and reaching people who are not really into emulators I guess. Steam is unbeatable at that and I completely understand why having your program on Steam could be helpful.

 

[SMNFXCN]

cloud saves + auto updater + potential "big picture mode" like pcsx2/duckstation would make dolphin more appealing on steam. but they could just add a cloud storage option in dolphin w/ google drive/mega/nextcloud etc

 

[KarlslandOtaku]

View attachment 374118​

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 and says it is dated today, May 26. It reads:



It is worth noting that, as of now, it appears the DMCA notice only affects Dolphin Emulator's release on Steam. It is still available to download on the developer's website.

 

[Kioku]

I disagree, blatant negligence on anybody's part is often a determining factor in legal cases. Granted, it's not like losing a $100 bill, because it's more like purposefully placing it on the ground and then lashing out violently when it isn't still there an hour later. Nintendo's hardware has always had more security holes than a slice of Swiss cheese after a drive-by shooting, and if they aren't willing to own up to their failures in that regard, they should absolutely have their asses handed to them in court.

It's not a slippery slope because there's a clear line between competence and negligence, and the only one of the big three consistently on the wrong side of that line is Ninty. They're using the legal system in place of basic software security simply because they don't want to invest a little more in it; while cheaping out on console hardware to boot.

Disagree all you want. It doesn’t change the fact that it doesn’t nor should it work that way. It’s not like Nintendo put the keys out on a billboard for people to jot down. There was some work done to access them. “Poor security” or otherwise, someone made the effort to dig for and obtain this information.

What I want to know is a two-parter:

1. Why choose now to go after Dolphin? I doubt Nintendo was unaware of these keys for this long.

2. Can Dolphin operate without them? Likely they’ll have to find a way, yeah?

These bully tactics are getting out of hand. They’re finding and abusing any hole in the legal system. I do agree that is bullshit.

 

[IRUZZ]

It's just a number, you can't copywrite a number.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Illegal_number

 

[spotanjo3]

Is Nintendo on drug or something ? They are crazy!! I am glad that I no longer buy system from Nintendo anymore.

My Nintendo Switch v1 unpatched in excellent condition is going to be on sale in facebook market soon.

Nintendo, you are done!

 

[halfashark]

we always have people fighting for the interests of capital enterprises in 2023

"I took a bullet for a corporation and instead of helping staunch the wound, the capitalists opted to slam a straw into it and suck out my blood like a caprisun" is not a uniquely 2023 or even 21st century phenomenon, unfortunately.