Man Selling Modded Save Files of Breath Of The Wild Is Arrested In Japan
Posted on July 11 2021 by Alexandria Weber
Ichimin Sho, a 27 year-old modder, was arrested on July 8th in Japan. He claims to have made the equivalent of $90,000.00 USD over the past year and half by selling custom modified save files of the 2017 Nintendo Switch title Breath of the Wild. Before his arrest, Sho would charge the equivalent of $31.00 USD each for the modified software in the form of customized save files. He was caught earlier this month when he advertised publicly on an auction site.
Although it may seem like a waste of the resources of the Niigata Prefecture police, Sho was in direct violation of the Unfair Competition Prevention Law first established in Japan in 1934 and revised as recently as 2015. In particular, Sho is guilty of “causing confusion with other party’s widely-known indication of goods or business,” “misappropriation of other party’s well-known indication of goods or business,” and “sales, etc., of counterfeit goods.” Although fandom for a certain franchise consists of fans getting creative with the original content, which includes plenty of mods that make us giggle, the line is clearly drawn when profit is made off of a company’s original IP.
What do you make of this case? Let us know in the comments below!
Source: Kotaku
Editor’s Note: This article has been edited to better reflect the fact that the case discussed involves modified Breath of the Wild save files.
Alexandria Weber is a Senior Editor and an aspiring creative writer. Her favorite food is apple pie and she loves her cat Galadriel. Ask her for pictures!
