Nintendo's $14 Million Pirate Hunt: The Tale of Gary Bowser
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- čas přidán 8. 06. 2024
- Gary Bowser has to pay Nintendo 14.5 Million dollars, but who is really to blame? Is this another example of corporate greed, and cruelty? Or is there more to this story than meets the eye?
I'm Moony: a lawyer. This is a quick follow-up video to the one on PointCrow: Episode 2 of this mini-series. Please pardon the editing: I finished this video quickly, to make sure it was timely.
In this video, we discuss the legality of piracy, and distinguish piracy devices from regular old hardware! We also discuss the game genie, and the complicated nature of civil and federal penalties.
Are there any real heroes in this story? Let's find out, together!
10% of Moon Channel's Revenue goes to charity: including our sponsorship income! We are currently supporting Doctors Without Borders (MCF). You can learn more about Doctors Without Borders at www.msf.org/.
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Please also consider supporting Moon Channel on Patreon!
/ moonchannelyt
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Chapters:
00:00 - Intro
01:48 - Chapter 1: The Legality of Mods and Fair Use
5:37 - Tangent: The Game Genie
10:48 - Who is Team Xecutor?
15:19 - Chapter 2: The Crimes Committed and the Punishments
20:18 - Max Louarn: The (Alleged) Head of Xecutor
22:46 - Conclusion
24:20 - Credits Gag
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Additional Reading:
17 U.S.C. §1201(b)
www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/te...
Lewis Galoob Toys, Inc. v. Nintendo of America, Inc., 780 F. Supp. 1283 (N.D. Cal. 1991)
law.justia.com/cases/federal/...
Micro Star v o Star v. FormGen, Inc. 154 F ormGen, Inc. 154 F.3d 1107 (9th Cir .3d 1107 (9th Cir. 1997)
via.library.depaul.edu/cgi/vi...
Gary Bowser Federal Indictment
www.justice.gov/opa/press-rel...
Nintendo v. Bowser: Consent to Entry of Judgment And Permanent Injunction
storage.courtlistener.com/rec...
COURT DOCKET:
www.courtlistener.com/docket/...
Plea Agreement:
storage.courtlistener.com/rec...
Civil Suit Complaint:
static.wiidatabase.de/nintend...
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The Track List, by Fan Request:
Sorry, I had to get rid of the timestamps; they were messing with the chapters!
(1) Inside the Pirate Ship - The Legend of Zelda: Wind Waker
(2) Treasure Trove Cove - Banjo Kazooie
(3) Bosun Bill - Sea of Thieves
(4) Athletic Theme - Super Mario World 2 Yoshi's Island
(5) FF5 Pirates Ahoy! (Saronia Docks) - World of Final Fantasy
(6) The Cat Pirates - Potionomics
(7) Gangplank Galleon - Donkey Kong Country
(8) Opening Theme - The Secret of Monkey Island Special Edition
(9) Pirate Lagoon - Diddy Kong Racing
(10) Becalmed - Sea of Thieves
(11) You Are a Pirate! - Lazytown
[ • Do What You Want, Caus... ]
If you remember this, you might be getting old!
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Subtitles by: James Hugh
(Thank you, James!) - Hry
![Eminem - Houdini [Official Music Video]](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/22tVWwmTie8/mqdefault.jpg)
This video is Pt. 2 of the "Current Events" impromptu "mini-series." The episodes were supposed to be under ten minutes each, but apparently I'm incapable of that.
Episode 1 was on Pointcrow, and this episode focuses on Gary Bowser: the alleged "hacker" who is required to pay Nintendo to the tune of 14.5 Million Dollars. I apologize for any hasty editing -- the turn around on this one was quite quick. Let me know what you think of the video, as you watch! Please enjoy!
Your vids are awesome dude. Keep up the work!
Thank you, Duck! I'm so glad you enjoy the videos.
I didn't notice editing or other weaknesses. Sorry if it doesn't meet your own standard of excellence, but I loved it.
Might want to pin this one; had to scroll like 10 comments to find it
they could be one hour long i'd only want to watch them even more
I feel like it's kinda interesting that the head of Nintendo of America's name is Doug Bowser, and Nintendo is cracking down on Gary Bowser.
It's Koopas all the way down!
Palpatine:"Ironic!"
inb4 Doug is just Bowser's twin from SMB2J and Gary is the other Bowser who's chilling in glitch levels. Talk about connections between real life and Mario lore.
Bowser is spreading his influence! Soon his army will dominate all!
"What's in a name?" - turns out, quite a lot actually heh
Cases like this remind me of an old Batman comic I once read where before becoming a vigilante, Bruce Wayne tried going to law school. We see one scene where his professor gave an example of two men who steal a car and then hit a pedestrian. When Bruce was asked how he would charge these men, he concluded that both should be charged for car theft and that the driver alone should also be charged with vehicular homicide. The professor, hoverer, corrected him saying that both men should be charged with homicide. Bruce argued back that wouldn't be "justice", but the professor countered that it was "law"
That distinction has always stuck with me.
The most interesting thing is that, even the most "objective" people who have tackled the story, seem to fail in understanding that this wasn't even "making an example", this is just the result of not being able to get everyone involved. I'll admit i wasn't aware of what happened with the other members of Xecuter, and had they actually kept the alleged leader in custody, they would have actually gotten something useful here.
My only theory is that they made such a big deal when they got all three arrested, after all this was an important moment when it started, that the government couldn't make themselves look incompetent after clearly losing the people who were objectively making an impact on piracy, therefore somebody needed to be punished in order to show results, even if this doesn't benefit anybody. For all we know Team Xecuter will just find a way to get back in business, or they already are and we're just not aware.
I was already very skeptical about how "journalists" were tackling the story, but your video did show me something new:
Not a single example was made out of this, and the government is currently unable to be trusted for how to handle these kind of situations. Gary Bowser may not be a martyr, but he's clearly not the one that needed to be punished, and if anything, this is a story of how to get away
You say the government isn't to be trusted but how would they go about it? They can't just kidnap foreign nationals to serve in court for financial crimes.
I hope this hits trending or pops off in some way. The truth of this story crazy and more people should know about it.
Well it did, so
@@hayaokakizaki4463 cool
"pop off"? I'm all for case studies, but only when they are informative
People should have a clear understanding of copyright claims so that if there is any gray area about breaking them, they have been warned
I don't much care for the narrative that aligns piracy with the cause for the little guy. Software is encoded for a reason, you wouldn't want the merit of your work and finances to be undermined by foreign agents
Imagine someone took a mural that you designed as a cornerstone to your community and replicated the image to be used in a compromising way. You wouldn't want your hard work to bear a negative connotation or to be passed off to be used by someone else in strange ways
Work is work, regardless of whether it was manifested in the physical or virtual. It should be the business of the generator to be used at their sole discretion
@@ramblincapuchin9075 pirating Nintendo products is always morally correct
Well, you can help that by sharing it!
I like how level-headed your takes are. Everyone else is just giving their knee-jerk reaction, but you’re actually backing up your claims with facts and research.
Same, people can often be so emotional in their analysis of news articles. Principles of fearness and the creation of victims and oppressor out of parties playing to their strength is not necessary. Rather analyse objectively then maybe include a conclusion written in language that is not set to manipulate feelings.
Only if you fallaciously believe the law is a good source of morals.
The "crimes" are crimes only to benefit companies and not the individual.
he is a lawyer afterall
Nintendo's been giving you a ton of content lol. Thanks for the insight on these situations. Its really interesting seeing things from a legal perspective instead of a purely emotional one
Nintendo has been busy lately! I might take a break with the Nintendo content though, and get back to regularly scheduled programming soon.
I'm glad you like the videos, and find them interesting!
@@moon-channel I'll watch your content even if not Nintendo related, would enjoy :>
@@moon-channel It all comes down to the presenter. If you can take a topic, even a complicated one, and break it down to make it understandable AND interesting, you can get me to watch anything. It's the same reason I watch Technology Connections.
One small correction - the Xecuter that made the 2006 Xbox hard drive connector is NOT the same Xecuter that would make the GATEWAY and SX tools.
The guy "owning" the original name sold it somewhere in 2014 (iirc - could be off by a year or two) to GATEWAY, a different team (what Louarn was a part of after his previous warez group, Paradox, got rolled up by the feds in 1996), who rebranded to Xecuter for their Nintendo Switch devices to duck a rather nasty reputation they had accrued for bricking the consoles of their customers.
These are great insights, Canti! I cannot confirm the veracity, but if this is all true then it's fascinating context!
@@moon-channel It's a bit hard to really get sources on this and ultimately the distinction between Xecuter and GATEWAY doesn't matter a whole lot anymore - the original Xecuter simply stuck to those legal gray area mods, the rebranded GATEWAY team was into straight up piracy from the getgo.
Max' involvement with Paradox is documented on the Wikipedia page for Paradox (which also lightly touches on his business getting rolled up): en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paradox_(warez)
This is also the reason why Max has been on the run from the feds for about ~25 or so years. I was also wrong about the year they got rolled up, it was a few years earlier.
Honestly Max throwing Gary Bowser under the bus as PR escape goat does sounds in character for Max, heck he made his instagram private after gary got arrested probably because he knows he will get no sympathy from the press if they saw how well off he truly is.
I love how Xecuter is coopting the language of the right to repair movement while putting in software that bricks devices. I remember people blaming Nintendo for intentionally bricking devices; maybe it was the fault of the people who made them.
Just think if Nintendo had to release schematics and sell parts for all their devices so that you could repair them yourself.
and perhaps less egregious, taking open-source code and not respecting the license.
but the point is that Team Xecuter is not our friend. i'm happy karma is getting back at them, if only because i'm spiteful
@@chainswordcs fr
to be fair, nintendo has been known to intentionally brick devices. If you took a korean wii and tried to convert it to another region, they added a special check that would brick it.
@@chainswordcs i missed the news where Xecuter is getting karma
what happend?
yeah with the gateway cards
As a lawyer in another country it's been a dream to finally understand how these companies handle the law side of things, great vid!
"French aristocrat who looks like he belongs in a Romanian prison" I died
That's still more lenient than how the French treated their aristocrats a bit over 2 centuries ago.
Moral of the story: NEVER take a job as a PR guy, EVER.
Better moral: Only run ethical, good companies and treat your employees right. They will be happy, you will be happy, and nobody has to take the fall for a higher-up's stupid selfishness.
@@JarieSuicune Yeah because every every viewer is the CEO of a startup right?
It takes a special person to do that kind of work but, if you're good at it, you can expect to be well compensated.
ok lemme get this straight. guy that needed money got job at hacker group. hacker group makes lots of money. nintendo catches on to their tricks. hacker group throws guy under the bus. guy becomes victim of the crimes of the hacker group. head of hacker group runs free. guy suffers. anyways people need to see this video because people should not blame Nintendo but blame team xecuter.
I think you’re missing the idea that there are no heroes here. Nintendo is overly protective of their IPs, and team executor are scum, and the worst kind of example of the modding scene and right to repair.
@@patzeek8082 not overly but rightfully protective
@@19Rena96 I’d generally disagree. Given their history with content creation, hardware and software modding, the Smash community, etc. I’d say they’re generally overprotective.
You're missing the part where the guy willfully stayed with the hacker group for years. Yes he needed money but its not like Xecutor was the only job available. That said, what happened is still unfair and I hope they get what's coming to them.
I will absolutely blame Nintendo because 14 million dollars is hysterical and downright insane. Fuck em
What I think is great about this channel is that it's very clear he's one of us, someone who dislikes how the law is and how much it can be abused, but unlike 99% of us, he's not ignorant. He doesn't wrongfully say "hey! They don't have the right to do this! This is so messed up!", he says "oh yeah, they totally have the right to do this, as wrong and unfair as it may be. It's sad". He really educates us and shows us the problem isn't common citizens being unable to afford to stand up to companies in legal cases where they would 100% in the right, it's the fact that they're legally in the wrong to begin with when they really shouldn't be. Companies don't dodge the law to punish people who can't fight back, the law is what allows them to do all of that fairly.
Don't twist words. Doing something illegal is still illegal. Causing harm, theft, etc. is all wrong and making it sound like people should be able to get away with that is terrible.
Pointing at mistakes and bad actions by larger, more powerful individuals or organizations and then saying "but they get to do that!" is fighting AGAINST making anything better.
The thing is, there can't be a perfect law when there isn't perfectly clear Right and Wrong. If you aren't going to suggest that an entity beyond humanity (God, AI, aliens, etc.) should determine that detail, then EVERY single possible law system will always be imperfect and possible to abuse.
@@JarieSuicune what in the world are you on about? I'm not twisting words, you are. You're acting like I said way more than I really said.
"Doing something illegal is still illegal."
That sentence is even more redundant than "fun things are fun", which is a big achievement.
I never implied that causing harm and theft is NOT wrong and that people should get away with it?? Where did you get that from?
I never meant that we should be allowed to do whatever we want or something because "but they get to do that" AT ALL. What I was saying is that most of us who are ignorant about the law might conclude with that some things corporations do are illegal, but this channel comes in to free us from our ignorance and says "nope, they have the right to do so, it's totally legal". This isn't a student who gets punished who says "but the student next to me did even worse!" at all. That's completely unrelated to what I was talking about.
And I know that the law is imperfect and can be abused? That's... What I'm saying here. No law system can be free of abuse, I know that? Why do you think I don't know that?
What I'm saying is that the law directly states rights corporations have that are messed up and clearly show a bias to benefit them.
Note that I'm not interested in someone who imagines I said more than I really did so even if you try to argue further that I meant more than I wrote or come up with things I never said again, I'm not going to respond, or even read it tbh. Look at what I really wrote and understand it fully before you assume I'm a weird guy who thinks the law should be abolished and we should be free to cause harm, steal and do whatever we want or something.
@@JarieSuicune You need to understand that morality and law are not exactly the same thing sometimes. Copyright for example is not a human right so therefor there are cases where some cases of "copyright infringement" isn't exactly morally wrong morally speaking. You also need to understand that copying is not the same thing as actual theft. What could truly count as harming something involving copyright infringement is debatable and for example, innocently modding a Nintendo game one owns shouldn't be seen as harmful and neither is downloading a 30-year old great Nintendo game they don't flat-out sell. Pirating that new Nintendo Kirby game when one doesn't own it might be.
I am not too sure exactly what this video is entirely about but I just want to point this out by itself. I also want to point out that I am not intending to ask people to pirate. I intend this to be a moral argument assuming that makes sense.
@RSLVXILD What exactly do you mean, because that's not clear in the slightest.
Your video are so good and it help me actually learn some of the copy right law and ip law, Thanks to your videos I was inspired to look more into law stuff since I'm a nintendo fan and always wondered why nintendo was so strict but from learning your videos and learning more about the law I thank it's pretty neat
I'm grateful that you've found the videos fun and educational, Retro! Understanding the law helps all of us content creators to protect ourselves, and make better content in the process!
Agreed! Just makes me even more supportive of Nintendo to understand a small part of what that company has to deal with just to survive.
even tho im a huge pirate living in a country where copyright laws are barely enforced, i don't like xecuter.
most pirates would probably say the same thing though because they're all peeps buying the cheapest stuff available and take free stuff whenever possible, even if the quality is garbage.
regardless of me being a criminal, great vid dude.
I think most people consider Team Xecuter to be bad because they're basically doing all the things people hate corporations for; I assume in your country it's probably not economically viable to purchase luxury entertainment like video games, but you seem at least aware that doesn't make it more *legal* or even necessarily a moral act, and definitely not a moral imperative. "I want game, game too expensive, I do something legally qualified as theft" is something I think most people are probably ambivalent towards as long as you don't brag about it and aren't trying to profit off pirated software, and it's not an indie game or something.
Team Xecuter is certainly not popular with the actual hobbyist modding community they steal code from, that's for sure.
@@NAFEDUDE not a bad assumption, but not a good one either since i live in russia where videogames aren't that pricey and piracy is not punished as long as it's not a pirated copy of windows that you distribute or something.
i'm just way too lazy to get a bank account and/or an online payment method not associated with my (real) identity.
@@generallyunimportant how much is a normal priced game over there for you btw?
@@onwardsumo5189 idk, like 250-500 rubles? i probably would've had a more correct answer if you commented as soon as i posted that reply.
This makes a lot of sense actually. If Nintendo's lawyers just said something like "he's made $10 million off these things" instead of meaningless PR talk, maybe people would've been more aware of the situation. Unfortunately Nintendo just doesn't have any goodwill at the moment.
Or maybe people are too ignorant and lazy in doing any research. Yes Nintendo does a lot of questionable things and they should be called out for it. But it is because of cases like this that Nintendo is so hell bent on their legal cases. And to be honest it tiring and most just resort to being biased.
@@toledochristianmatthew9919 Nintendo has a public image to maintain regardless of people's biases. If you can avoid bad PR then avoid it even if people are dumb
@@toledochristianmatthew9919 Ignorant/lazy/dumb people are inevitable. Nintendo failed to show what really happened and that made them look bad
@@LilacMonarch It's not Nintendo's job to publicize every criminal scenario. It's not even the public's business to begin with. If the media hadn't hyped it up, NO ONE except those involved would even know this happened.
@@JarieSuicune That is exactly the job of PR. They make statements/react to situations to paint their company in a good light. Don't act like lawsuits going for tens of millions don't often get public attention, that's ridiculous.
thanks for the insight on the situation,it's sad to see many huge youtubers and twitter accounts spreading misinformation just because hating on nintendo is easy. talk about double standards
Exactly and I'm absolutely sick of it as well
thanks for this, i still have my gripes against nintendo, but now i realize they're not the only ones to blame for this. i knew team xecutor had a pretty damn shady history, but not to this extent. an additional detail is that they ripped code from the open-source atmosphere project, which is custom firmware for the switch that is designed to not enable piracy, just homebrew software (ofc it being open source means people have made variants that facilitate it). so, yeah, they're really not on the side of "hack the planet", since they have stolen code from those very people who want that!
FWIW atmosphere doesn’t do anything to prevent piracy. they really just pretend to not see it.
Bro been ignoring his clients to pump out videos like crazy for us💀
I did have to work long nights to get this video done. I might take it a little easier with the release schedule, now that I'm not covering current events!
Bowser wasn't a fall guy, he was just the only person living in a country that bends the knee freely to USA.
China will never hand over a citizen to the Americans, especially not for something like this.
Louarn is taking full advantage of French laws to ensure he won't be extradited.
Bowser should have chosen an exotic island that doesn't ask "how high?" when USA says jump, then he may still be a free man.
Keen insight
Plus he gets all the blame.
exactly. i don't see how the other team "threw him under the bus". He was just the only guy they could get. it was every man for himself at that point.
@@LightSilver7 facts
Awesome video as always, it's always nice to have a video on these topics without the preface of "I'm not a lawyer, but..."
And this is why I hate people sharing titulars as arguments whenever something bad happens, not only on videogames, but any type of crime, because these things can go so deep in the complications there is no surprise why there are hour-long videos explaining single cases in detail while mentioning other cases as examples those are rabbit holes in the rabbit holes, and you can't explain those things in a two lines titular, not even in a whole article.
While watching this video I was trying to remember the whole case for why Ms. Pacman will never appear again I'm new releases, including ports, and how do I explain it, and that explanation would be just as long as this one if not even longer.
Now imagine how complex things get with serious physical crimes I won't be mentioning but you know what I mean.
The salt thrown at (that one guy) that was thrown in a Romanian prison did not go unnoticed by me. Thank you for that 😂.
Great video as well, all of your videos are interesting and engaging.
That comment just got “Ha!” outta me, and I need more of those these days ❤.
This was a super interesting video. Thank you for this! there was much more then I thought was going down and how much Gary was really making, crazy stuff!
Being someone who been into the Nintendo hacking scene since the 3ds in 2014 I have found the people defending him so infuriating and ignorant about the history of Xecuter which within the Homebrew scene have always been hated on because they bring the eye of Nintendo on to us when they otherwise may turn their backs and let us exist in our own small bubble.
This video along with the pointcrow video was fun to watch and learn. Thank you Moony. Hopefully you'll finally do your jrpg video you've been wanting to do.
this whole situation is probably the biggest blow nintendo’s had so far in their little hotstreak they’ve had these last few weeks, not even including the fact a major preservation site (forest of illusion) has closed its doors and people are immediately pinning the blame on them out of habit despite having nothing to do with it. it sucks that we’ve gotten to that point but its not all that surprising
This is currently my favorite CZcams channel, and I have been around on CZcams for a while.
As an aspiring lawyer (doing, sadly, an undergraduate degree in computer science), as well as a chronic consumer of video games, your videos are particularly insightful and inspiring.
Keep up the amazing work! I'll be sure to watch your videos henceforth and direct others to this channel :D
Interesting to see how many prominent influencers have been propping up team xecuter as some sort of rag tag group of open source heroes, when in reality they are just as greedy and capitalistic as the influencers say Nintendo is
Influencers are framed as being in the right whether they know it or not; it's one of the boons of the internet. They're able to go up, no filer, and speak their mind. If presented well, audiences subconsciously take what they say as being right. But the unfortunate thing is they don't always have the knowledge or credibility to give accurate insights on a situation. For example, I like Moist Crtikial but he is just dead wrong about things sometimes and very rarely acknowledges when he is. Then narratives are formed and the whole thing is skewed. He's entertaining but in no way can I look to him as an expert in most topics. That's how it is for most influencers I think.
@@imperialzink1365 most "influencers" are ignorant, narcissistic and irresponsible, not only do they lack knowledge and understanding, they refuse to learn or acknowledge their inability, continuously spreading misinformation filled with biases
@@imperialzink1365 dead wrong about what things for instance?
@@19Rena96 In regards to Nintendo, the Smash World Tour, for example.
If Phoenix and Edgeworth were in this world, they would’ve nailed the right guy without fail. It’s just sucks that there really are people who will do anything to get the bottom dollar, even if it means ruining someone’s life. But then again, Karma is a very sneaky thing in the world. Rest assured, I hope it spikes the hacking company where it hurts and destroys it for good. Now more than ever, we need to be more critical about how the law works so we can overturn these contradictions.
Wouldn’t that be a great Ace Attorney gam-heeeeeey. lmao
Great content as always, Moon!
To be fair, he ruined his own life
Don't break the law if you don't want to be punished
Its literally called pirating
Pirates were criminals of the sea and were commonly hanged for their crimes
Did you expect to pirate and just get away scot free? Once you get caught, you are indeed fucked
@@colonelcider8292 He got what was coming to him, but that doesn’t excuse the greater implications of what his role ended up being. I hope those responsible finally get Justice served to them.
@Demetrius NP I agree and those above him do need to be punished accordingly.
I'm just not excusing his behaviour
He's not a child, he's fully aware what he was participating in was criminal.
Other people say that Nintendo did this to him and he was punished unfairly which is just a massive lie
@@demetriusnp49 so Nintendo and the authors of the DMCA
@@colonelcider8292 Dude he is just victim that have a choice between continue to be unemployed and risk financial ruin or take the illegal option and maybe better his life to the point that he could walk off of this in a better position. And his working as a HR guy in the operation wasn't hurt anyone either, he was just doing honest work for scummy people and when said scum was caught, they throw the guy under the bus to get out of the situation with a PR win. Like yes, he definitely deserves to be punished for his actions, but the fine was just too big imo, in a fair world just the jail time should be punishment enough for him, but at the same time I get why Nintendo respond the way it did, why the fine was necessary and that they were actually lenient with the guy. Frankly this all just a really depressing story overall.
Wait, there are people sympathising with team executor!? Point Crow I get (even though he’s legally wrong and offering money for a mod is s bit dubious) but these guys are just selling Nintendo’s games for themselves without licence, it’s literally piracy.
Anyway, great video as always, I really enjoy your content and I’ve learned a lot about the legal workings of the situation.
holy shit, this was super enlightening. I really hope this does the numbers and more people can learn what's actually been going on. no one does it like moony 💕
Thank you, graybee! I'm so glad you enjoyed the video!
Your videos are great! I keep coming back every time a new one is released. I appreciate the detail you put in & how engaging and educational you make them!!
Thank you, Liv! I'm so glad you enjoy the videos.
“Bowser’s inside story” is a cute name for this, but what about “so long, Gary Bowser”?
I thought that would be a little harsh of a title! But I did consider it, along with a few others!
Did this video have a different title earlier?
@@seneca983 yes, it was called something like “Gary Bowser’s Inside Story”
@@ShuckleShellAnemia OK. I think the current title is better.
Would you mind diving in to why France refuses to extradite Louarn? I remember once hearing that France categorically refuses to extradite its own citizens to non-EU countries, regardless of what the charges are. Is that true? And even if it is, couldn't Nintendo just sue him in France or the French government prosecute him in France?
That's a good question
because the French love to stick it to uncle Sam lol. They have, since the inception of Nato, chaffed under the yolk of the ascendant US and did not khao tow politely after the writing was on the wall like the UK did. The French will not extradite criminals not harming French companies or French society. They are just owning the yanks lol
"Bowser is like a Warhammer 40,000 dreadnaught, Even in debt he still serves."
Going to be honest that was dollar joke I expected when I clicked on this video. It was very much appreciated though.
🤯🤯🤯
Wow... Thank you for uncovering the truth over this whole debacle. I did feel like something was up when the article was sympathizing with this "Bowser" as if he was poorly treated by Nintendo.
The rabbit whole was much deeper.. I didn't think he was a real-life fall guy.
Your content is fantastic and not soleless like many others. Highly-researched, clear, and neutral. I'll be waiting for another great video from you, and you don't have to rush. Thank you for the great service.
I appreciate how timely these videos have been coming out. This is a ton of information that I only had a small passing familiarity with. Keep up the Great Work!
Absolute chad, providing court documents for us. Moon channel best channel.
Enjoying the flux of content, very informative and breaks down everything in very simple and digestible language. Definitely deserves more views
Wow, this was incredibly informative! I hope you're able to spread this around, this really clarifies a lot about the situation. This is a lovely channel and I hope you're able to get the recognition you deserve while informing folks about the law.
Couldn't Bowser declare bankruptcy and because the debit is so large and non-essential it would be wiped clean?
As far as I'm aware, you are unable to discharge legal fines and fees through bankruptcy. It would be quite problematic if you could.
As I understand it, there are a number of debt types that can't be easily circumvented (because then everyone would do so and the economy would collapse).
For example, as I understand it, college debt is so deadly because it can't even be wiped by your death. Whoever inherits from you inherits that as well, a curse for your children to carry.
The French government ought to hand over Max Louarn and make him pay Gary Bowser’s debt.
Put em under fire
i dont get why they're even bothering to protect him when there's evidence that he committed felonies.
Yeah I do think that's a bit odd, I thought the U.S' relationship with France was solid enough that extradition wasn't really a problem, but I imagine these things are more complicated than that.
@@NN-ge2wf I figured it was extradition to Japan, where their court system is severely unfair.
But in a case like this I don't think that bastard needs a fair trial anyways since we all know what he's guilty of.
@@sadizz455 How is their court system unfair? Nothing I’ve heard suggests that.
I'm glad I decided to actually listen instead of metaphorically covering my ears and singing as an emotional kneejerk reaction. I find that American law is overly harsh on these kinds of things and I wish we could just do what we want with consoles we own- it sucks to be a genuine homebrew fan under these conditions. But Team Executor are clearly no heroes. Just another soulless corporation, sucking us dry from another direction.
I just found this channel, mad respect for you. I love watching video essays on CZcams and after watching only one of your videos I instantly subscribed. You make fantastic, well researched, well thought out videos. Great script, interesting topics. You definitely deserve more views and I’m sure it’s going to come to you soon. Thank you so much for the amazing content!
"Because people weren't using it the way they wanted them to."
Hmmm where have we heard that one before, at least 50 different times? Awfully familiar.
I discovered your channel with the Nintendo being overprotective video, and I'm just fascinated with all the information you give us in your essays. Keep going with the good work!!
I love these videos. You're really good at explaining complex legal topics in a manner a lay person can understand. I'll never pretend to understand the full nuisance of all the laws involved, but thanks to your channel I always feel I have a much better grasp on what is actually happening.
Discovered your channel recently, and I’ve really enjoyed your perspective on a lot of current gaming discourse. Twitter tends to speak with knee jerk reactions whenever topics like this come up, so it’s nice to get more level headed takes like this that are both informative and easy to digest. Looking forward to more content in the future.
Another great video Moon. Your channel definitely needs more subs/views for presenting these topics from a more educational and nuanced perspective. There really needs to be more content like yours trending
Glad I found your channel! These are so interesting and really so a great job explaining to a layperson some of the legal nuances as well as sharing info I don't know if I would even think to look into doing my own research on a topic. I really hope your channel gets more attention, it really deserves it.
While as a Nintendo fan I do agree that there's a lot to dislike about them, I think people are hateful to the point where it's harmful. Hating is good when reasonable, but cases like these just show how much they're ignorant about all of it. There's a MASSIVE picture that they seem to be completely unable to grasp, and while not everyone will be able (and/or should be expected) to understand all of it, it's at least crucial to get a grasp of it
I don't want to pretend that i'm an expert of it, but I'm open to learn more about it through things like this video, and I'm starting to have a much clearer perspective on all of this
Hey so I just found your channel and been watching a bunch of your videos today, and I just gotta say, it's clear you're a gamer yourself and you are definitely on the side of the people, while being fair and stating the facts regardless of who you think is in the right or wrong, and I really appreciate that. And I do enjoy the all the legal deep dives and learning about all of it! You're nice to listen too as well so that definitely helps when talking about legal documents and all that haha
Keep up the great work!
this is quickly becoming one of my favorite channels
keep up the good job
As a person who’s studied law here and there due to my major, you make it so much easier to understand. Thanks Moon!
There is so much for me to ponder on this...and not sure now of how process that the one behind it all, is just free.
My brain is having some difficulties with the sale and units as well.
A fascinating perspective. I especially like the "there are no heroes in this story" angle. Bowser was a victim of circumstance, because Nintendo cannot more directly go after Xecuter.
Thanks for illuminating this issue! This was more informative than any other commentary I've seen by orders of magnitude.
7:37 i love how you put so much effort into your videos that you even move the subtitles out of the way of the screenshot. subbed
Opened youtube at the right time. Always excited for your videos
I hope you will enjoy, Nilly! Thank you for watching!
It really feels like Gary Bowser was a PR trap Nintendo fell for hook, line, and sinker. Not to mention sticking such a huge judgment against an individual is just begging to be dispelled through bankruptcy, which will only further allow Team Executor to dissappear with the money as Nintendo have technically already been awarded their damages. Nice job breaking it, Nintendo lawyers.
And incidentally, Micro Star v FormGem is the worst and most egregiously legally questionable decision I've seen in US Courts since Planned Parenthood v Casey. Like that case, this one is just begging to be overruled in a subsequent case over modding. Galoob v Nintendo is 100% a better precedent and the appeals court stretched into the stratosphere to come to its "unofficial sequel" conclusion. What the hell were the courts smoking in the Clinton years?
Micro Star v FormGem is case law from before broadband internet -- a case that was decided literally one week after the founding of Google -- that substantially impacts almost every aspect of the law related to modding, to this very day.
But a lot of the law is like that: it's hopelessly out of touch from the word go, and just gets worse and worse over time.
It is, ostensibly, Congress's job to fix that issue, and to keep the system modernized and functional. But I don't have to tell you, or anyone, that Congress certainly isn't going to be contributing anything to help any time soon!
@@moon-channel Even so, the decision is bizzare on its surface value. The appeals court decided that the mod was a sequel... that required the original game to run?
...did the judge base their ruling solely on their grandson's "& Knuckles" cartridge? The technical illiteracy is staggering, and even more egregious when there was already existing precedent that CLEARLY favored a Fair Use interpretation.
Not to mention how that ruling technically makes fanfiction illegal, too- another whole legal can of worms which absolutely did not need to be opened in this case.
There's definitely way more to this story than we're being told.
I didn't consider the PR trap angle before. Been observing the modding scene for some time, and it seems some big players out there want to weaken Nintendo's IP and tight control over it's own gaming ecosystem. Seems like YT was giving Nintendo emulator channels a pass for awhile.
Just speculating, but others have stated Team Xecutor's leadership was replaced before this went down, which makes me believe that Nintendo paid somebody off to implode the organization from within, and harm the emulation community as a whole. These hackers should know better on how to skirt the legal line (especially if they getting backdoor support from some big dog), so when they pull dumb foul like flagrant copyright infringement, or shooting themselves in the foot by bricking users devices, it's fishy. Perhaps Bowser himself was that rat (his GaryOPA Phoenix avatar is a huge giveaway). Louarn looks like your typical blue-blood and intelligence asset. He's being protected by somebody.
@moon-channel:
What do you know about 'dummy courts'?
Just wondering wouldn't it just be possible to prosecute the head of Team Xecuter in France?
After all, what he did is illegal under French law as well. After all sellers of the more legally ambiguous r4 cards were fined.
I waited for this really hard, as the journalism around this lawsuit has been atrocious to read.
Thanks for the great, differentiated and well researched information.
Aye, especially given how Xecuter deliberately primed this story to play off a ton of media bias. Big demonstration of how delicate PR operations are around legal cases - you can be in the right, but if there's an angle where your organization can be painted as the villain emotional pull will do quite some damage anyway.
I really appreciate this video. I've been saying for the last few years that all this "Oh no, evil Nintendo!" stuff is bullshit, and I felt no differently about this case. I've been in the hacking scene long enough to have no good faith for Xecuter, and this breakdown is perfect. Thank you so much!
Great to hear the perspective of someone that has the credentials. As much as I love other content creators, I can never take their stances, or speculation, seriously.
I'm very happy that this is getting attention. I've been saying this ever since the situation surfaced. The video on the Linus Tech channel honestly pissed me off. He made such a big deal that the charges were overkill, and in literally the last few seconds said he didn't look into the guy at all.
Thank you, I shared this video with quite a few people on Discord.
I'm endlessly fascinated with IP law and have been since reading Slashdot back in the mid-2000s and so I will gladly watch every video you put out on the subject. A CZcams channel that covers IP law featuring an actual lawyer is extremely my bag. For some weird reason.
Some people in the comments aren't watching the video, they're just automatically replying with "yeah Gary didn't do nothing wrong and Nintendo are evil"
Unlike them, We thankfully watch the entire video and understand the situation.
Yes. Some many criminal defenders in CZcams nowadays. You can add Charlie/m0istcritikal and YongYea to that list. These people probably watched their videos first, or maybe they have an a priori hate towards huge corporations.
@@bukojoetheslapsoils8273 I mean to be fair it's not like Nintendo/ these huge corps hasn't done anything in the past to deserve that hate
I had my own thoughts on how your video would go and I’m pleasantly surprised to see that I was not only wayyyyy off, but that you gave a perspective that was far wider than I was expecting. This was a great video into the grey area Nintendo is battling almost constantly and I was surprised to see how rooted these bad actors are in gaming communities
People are always willing to believe a narrative that supports their pre-conceived notions. The Bayonetta 3 voice acting controversy was like... 6 months ago? And some of those same people have learned nothing.
Worst part about that is that the same people who pledged complete allegiance to Hellena Taylor before the facts came in don't see any fault in their actions. They all blame her for "Sabotaging the movement, and making it harder for voice actors who aren't lying to be heard" but that wasn't her fault, it was theirs. They are basically demanding the right to have whoever they choose to form a mob for, to be infallibly correct all the time. When in reality they should learn to stop picking up the pitchforks and torches whenever they see a headline on Twitter
"complicated situations must be approached with a nuanced perspective" when you said that it suddenly clicked with me why this channel isn't wildly more popular
Hey there, the additional reading is empty... I'd wanted to read a bit of the documents to follow along at 17:02 :000
Oh, I'm sorry! I'll fix this right away!
I've added some of the docs. Please take a look, and enjoy! I'm so glad that people actually go into the additional reading to snoop around a bit :).
@@moon-channel Thank you so much for adding them! And of course, law can be majorly fascinating at times, I can't help but wanna see the nitty gritty details.
Moon Channel: Come for the Ace Attorney references, stay for the well researched, nuanced insight into complex international legal matters with the chillest dude on the planet!
Thanks again on another great video on a topic that is hot right now and having a professional take on it than just a bunch of "internet" experts.
Thanks for the video! It finally fills the niche of video game law i've been craving!
Peace be upon you Moon and happy May! Can I just say how Much I love your thumbnails and music choice? :D Seeing Mario RPG Bowswer with Bowser's Inside Story font, while listening to such an informative video with pirate music playing in the background really, REALLY does feel refreshing. Plus that Lazytown ending...*chefs kiss^ perfection. ( Godbless Stefán Karl Stefánsson). Anyway, see you on the next video and have a happy May!
amazing content. I like how you break down this even more with a true legal perspective.
These videos are fascinating! I’m just loving your channel
I don't understand, why is so much of copyright law entirely centered around the US? In this case, these were a bunch of people running an international operation, none of whom were US citizens or lived in the US, but somehow they end up indicted and fined by the US??? Similarly, there was that website hosted in Russia that made pirated textbooks and scholarly journals available to the public, but if you go on it now it says that it has been seized by the US authorities on the order of the Attorney General of New York? How does that work? How does the US have so much authority and able to enforce its national laws in places where the US should have about as much jurisdiction as any other country like Thailand or Argentina?
The simple answer is that the US exported its copyright and IP laws as a condition for trade: adopt our copyright laws or face economic consequences.
@@moon-channel Even then, isn't it inherently unjust to expect foreigners to abide by US law even though they don't live in the US, don't pay tax in the US, don't have a say in who runs the US government or what the law is in the US? Why should someone be bound to the law of a country that they have never been to and have nothing to do with? I'm sure you, I and many other people have done lots of things that are illegal in some country like Thailand but it would be incredibly unjust for any of us to be extradited to Thailand for commiting something that is a crime there but not anywhere else.
@@420quickscoper5 Now you understand who the true imperial power of the world is.
@420quickscoper The objective of the law is justice, but the outcome of the law is often just the opposite. I largely agree with you, and don't think it's right. But this is, unfortunately, how the system is.
As a person who's very pro open source, I really appreciate the way you made a point of saying this isn't that and saying, repeatedly, that open source is a good thing. Also I didn't know that this was what was really going on here, so thank you for the information.
Open source CAN be a good thing. It depends entirely on what any given person defines as "good". (I'm gonna guess you aren't an open-source developer or a monetary supporter of them, merely a leech like me and everyone else who benefits from them. And kudos if you are better than the rest of us and do reimburse their hard work!)
Wanna have a life? (Perhaps earning money and having good times? You know, what people like to do.)
You're welcome to take an open look at the developers of the open source code that powers so much of major software used around the world and then realize that those people who have spent ridiculous amounts of time and effort (like, sometimes MORE than their full-time jobs) are barely/not compensated and can have major problems long-term as a result. Not to mention that they can't keep the maintenance up forever and you aren't going to be the one to pick up the slack when they can't keep the core systems that run your life in working order.
Unless your open source economy actively, consistently, and reliably supports the people that make open source so "good", then it's really a bunch of leeches held up by the genuine work of people whose work you don't deserve.
Except that would likely require overhauling the world economy and... what person that is in a position to be able to enact such a level of change would be willing to do that?
The Game Genie situation is interesting, because, by all accounts, a cheat device certainly fits the description of a mod from a practical standpoint, i.e., the ways in which they are dissimilar don't impact the experience of the one using them, assuming that the effect is the same. For example, if you Game Genie in infinite lives that is, from a practical standpoint, the same as modding the game to have infinite lives.
Is any form of... let's say "volatile" modification classified as "Game Genie-like" for purposes of precedent? Or is it just the fact that it happened to be the Game Genie specifically in that case that gives it in the distinction?
another great video moony! thanks for all you do and sharing your knowledge and expertise!
Good video, man. The situation can't really be understood without this context.
Team Xecuter themselves have no leg to stand on, for one reason. The use of DRM, scumbag move
I was thinking about their devices being compared to jailbreaking, and just as I did. The section where
Max essentially does that came in, and even if he really meant it. He's just wrong, they're no fail0verflow
I do feel bad for Bowser. Crazy to think he lived somewhere in the same country as me
Excellent video as always Moony, thank you!!!!
I think that the reason why people are quick to side with TeamXececuter is because A: There was a time when they really were more of a hobbyist hacking group and B: Nintendo is already seen as a bad guy by most people in the scene, or who likes fan-made content. What they started doing after the 3DS came out was when they became the corporation they are today. The GW 3DS was a turning point for them, where they went from being a somewhat large, but niche group making modchips for Xboxes and other niche modding hardware, to a greedy company that didn't care at all about its users.
I've always associated them mainly with the RGH modification for the Xbox 360 and was a little bit confused why they are such pricks now because i thought during 360 era they were "good" guys
Amazing video! I do hope that your channel gets more attention!!
I'm not familiar with France's laws and legal system but the fact that they're sheltering both Roman Polanski and the head of Xecuter from legal trouble overseas is NOT a good look
Great video!! Very detailed but easy to follow along. I didn't even realize this happened, wow
If Team Xecuter was an LLC (or Inc?), they wouldn't be able to sue Bowser directly right? How is it even possible to legally sue him and not the head of the company?
Some Ordinary Gamer, Charlie, Linus are the 3 youtubers that I have watched. Falled for the clickbait and manipulative news article (which originate from freaking Kotaku if i got that correctly). Just take a look at their video's comments, a bunch of people sympathize with crimials because they're being fed with misinformation, fake sob story. The modding community was celebrating back in 2020 when Bowser was punished (yes we don't even like the team because they steal opensource modding tool to sale), now? the guys is in debt for the rest of his life? GOOD
Like all they had to do was read the article a little bit to see the headline was misleading, it’s insane how random people can inform public opinion so much because there CZcamsrs
They honestly should really watch this video asap.
@PhanTum926 I doubt they will especially Charlie.
dude your content is GOLD!!
Finally. I cant believe people defending these people as if they are some non-profit organization providing educational software for children 😮🤦♂️
Do what ye want ‘cuz a pirate is free!
Nintendo: “ don’t do what you want, because pirates aren’t free 🏴☠️”
As always, great video moony!
This is quickly becoming one of my favorite channels. While i may be a Pepperdine dropout, I still find I enjoy this kind of history and analysis. You may IRAC, but I-ran.
I still come back to this video every few months
Is there a possibility that you would do a video about the Microsoft and Activision merger expressing your thoughts?
You make great videos, keep it up!
Another solid video. Keep them coming.