Pour One Out For The Modchip Seller Facing Nintendo In Court Alone

Image: Damien McFerran / Nintendo Life

Back in July, Nintendo filed a lawsuit against Modded Hardware — an online store which, as you might expect, sells modded Switch consoles and chips — in its continued attempt to clamp down on piracy. Three months on, the alleged owner of the store, Ryan Daly, has filed his answer to the complaints where he denies any wrongdoing (thanks, TorrentFreak).

According to the complaints, Nintendo and Daly reached an agreement in March 2024 where the latter would stop selling modded consoles and MIG Switches (a card that plays pirated games on un-modded hardware). The agreement was obviously not upheld, leading Nintendo to submit a complaint to a Seattle federal court where Daly is accused of six different charges.

Daly's responses are short and to the point, with the majority of Nintendo's complaints being met with a "Denied" or "Defendant is without sufficient information to either admit or deny the allegations of this paragraph, and on that basis, denies them".

This isn't an uncommon practice, but what is slightly unusual is that Daly does not appear to have hired a lawyer in this instance and will therefore stand self-represented in court.

Alongside these responses, Daly has also submitted a list of 17 affirmative defences — a set of statements which if proven, defeat the consequences of the lawsuit. These defences include fair use, invalid copyright, failure to state a relief-granting claim and more.

TorrentFreak has shared a copy of Daly's response, where you can read Nintendo's claims and his rejection of them in full.

The lawsuit will now move onto the discovery process, where both parties can begin to gather evidence for the case. It is unclear whether Daly will remain self-represented as things progress, though he could still request legal assistance before entering court.

Meanwhile, the Modded Hardware site at the centre of this case is no longer publicly available and now requires a password to access.

This is just the latest in a slew of Nintendo lawsuits which have seen the Big N face off against competitors big and small. Last week, Switch emulator Ryujinx was taken offline after Nintendo released the hounds and the high-profile head-to-head with Palworld developer Pocket Pair is still ongoing.