One man landed shocking prison sentence after what he did to PSP console in first case of its kind
The PSP was auctioned for $190
Featured Image Credit: junpinzon / Getty
One man landed a shocking prison sentence after what he did to a PSP console in a first-of-its-kind case.
It's been an upward trend of people trying to relive nostalgia in gaming.
As they say, one man's junk is another man's treasure, and collectors are paying huge amounts of money for vintage consoles and rare games.
That's why it's always worth checking your storage boxes, in case you have 90s PlayStation games, a PlayStation 2 console, or surprisingly rare Nintendo DS games, that might be worth some serious cash.
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But while most people are making legitimate money from their old gaming gear, the industry has been cracking down on anything that suggests piracy.
Recently, we've seen gamers banned for playing second-hand games, the FBI shutting down popular ROM sites, and even innocent Switch 2 users getting caught up in Nintendo's anti-piracy conditions.
Safe to say, gaming companies aren't messing around when it comes to protecting their intellectual property.
And for one unlucky individual, that strict enforcement landed him in court.
In 2012, a Japanese court handed down what's believed to be the first prison sentence of its kind.
Yuichi Shimizu was an unemployed man who was caught selling a modified PlayStation Portable (PSP) that could play illegally copied software.
Launched in 2004, the PSP was Sony's first handheld console. And while it never quite matched the massive success of Nintendo's DS, it still managed to sell 80 million units over its 10-year run.
However, what many might not know is that the PSP can be easily modded by installing custom firmware (CFW), as shown in numerous YouTube videos. The software allows users to run homebrew applications and emulators.
However, in Shimizu's case, the PSP came with modified software that disabled the console's copyright protection, essentially turning it into a machine that could run pirated games.
This case marked the first conviction under Japan's newly strengthened copyright laws specifically designed to combat handheld gaming piracy, according to the Mainichi Shimbun.
"From a preventative point of view, a strict punishment is desirable," said Judge Atsutoshi Uraki of the Utsunomiya District Court.
A Sankei News report stated that the defendant was arrested for selling a modded PSP on an internet auction site for approximately 15,000 yen (around $190).
In response, prosecutors requested a two-year prison sentence and a fine of 2 million yen (approximately $25,340).
Judge Uraki agreed with both punishments but suspended the prison sentence for four years.
That meant Shimizu could avoid jail time if he stayed out of trouble, but he would still have to pay the fine.
Email records revealed that Shimizu had been running quite the operation, with over 100 messages related to sales totalling around 2 million yen.
"There is no room for extenuating circumstances in [the defendant's] motive to pay his living expenses," the judge concluded.