Taiwan’s Most Notorious Switch Modder from Hualien Infringes Nintendo’s Rights, Causing Over NT$100 Million in Damages
March 18, 2025, 08:47 | United Daily News
[Reporter Chen Hong-Rui / Taichung Instant Report]
Mr. Chen from Hualien City has been operating an illegal Nintendo Switch modding business for two years. He advertised his services online, offering same-day modding for customers, allowing them to access tens of thousands of pirated games for free. The Intellectual Property Rights Investigation Corps (IPRIC) launched an investigation last year and found that Chen had modded 850 consoles, with an estimated infringement value exceeding NT$100 million. He has been referred for legal action.
The IPRIC discovered that illegal vendors had been promoting Switch modding services on Facebook and other online platforms, emphasizing “same-day modding.” Customers who purchased the service were also granted access to an exclusive LINE group. After a lawsuit was filed by the Japanese gaming company Nintendo, a special task force was formed to investigate the case.
The IPRIC and the Hualien County Criminal Investigation Bureau found that Mr. Chen (46) named his shop after a character from the Japanese manga “YuYu Hakusho” and used his residence as a drop-off point for consoles. After modding the consoles, he would return them to buyers without keeping any inventory. In September of last year, a search warrant was executed, leading to the seizure of evidence including a host containing 24,000 pirated games and a hard drive with 51,000 games.
Investigations revealed that Chen had been operating for two years, selling 850 modded consoles that could play thousands of pirated Switch games. The games were directly downloaded onto the consoles. According to Nintendo’s estimates, the infringement value exceeded NT$100 million, making this the largest illegal Switch modding case in Taiwan. Chen has been referred for prosecution under the Copyright Act.
The IPRIC urges the public not to purchase illegally modded Switch consoles or use pirated games. In addition to violating copyright laws by downloading pirated content, console modding itself constitutes a violation of Article 80-2 of the Copyright Act, which prohibits the circumvention of anti-piracy measures. Authorities will continue to strengthen enforcement efforts to protect intellectual property rights in the Republic of China.
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