The lawsuit was settled out of court this week, with the Judge dismissing the case without explanation after an unspecified out-of-court settlement, thereby missing the chance for what could have been a landmark statement on a user’s rights to modify legally obtained software. The company’s complaints were twofold: that the hackers had breached the copy protection of the games and that the company’s intellectual property had been infringed by unauthorized modification and usage. Digital Millennium Copyright Act – a law which, as yet, has no specific equivalent in Japan or much of the rest of the world. The action began in February, when Tecmo lawyers alleged that the patch violated the controversial U.S.
The lawsuit began after Tecmo accused the site’s operators of creating or distributing patches for the games Dead or Alive 3 and Dead or Alive Xtreme Beach Volleyball that allowed the already scantily clad characters to be played in the nude. Japanese publisher and developer Tecmo has settled its lawsuit against fan website, after more than four months of legal action.
