The Hon. Mr Justice Floyd ruled that a number of devices which allow pirated games to be saved onto and played on the handheld had a "substantial" impact on Nintendo as "each accused device can store and play copies of many Nintendo DS games".

Two of the defendants in the case had claimed that these devices allowed gamers to play home-made games: however, Floyd confirmed that "the mere fact that the device can be used for a non-infringing purpose is not a defence" and that the copiers, of which nine different makes were seized, are now illegal to advertise and sell in the United Kingdom and to import into the country.

Nintendo's full statement is below.

GAME COPIERS FOR NINTENDO DS CONFIRMED UNLAWFUL IN THE U.K.

Favourable Court Decision Illustrates Another Important Step in Preventing the Proliferation of Infringing Devices Worldwide

Windsor, U.K.: July 28, 2010 – Nintendo welcomes the decision of London's High Court showing its strong support in the fight against video game piracy. The court issued an important decision confirming that the importation, advertising, and sales of game copying devices are considered illegal in the U.K. This first-ever judgment by the High Court of London is against Playables Limited and Wai Dat Chan. The court orders the defendant to stop selling the illegal devices immediately. The illegal game copiers are devices that circumvent Nintendo DS security systems as they allow users to play illegal Nintendo software.

Nintendo is also pleased that the court was not persuaded by the defendant's arguments, claiming that game copiers are lawful, as they allow for the play of "homebrew" applications. The court affirmed that game copiers first circumvent Nintendo's security systems before any non-infringing application can be played on Nintendo's handheld products.

Nintendo promotes and fosters game development and creativity, and strongly supports the game developers who legitimately create new and innovative applications. Nintendo initiates these actions not only on its own behalf, but also on behalf of over 1,400 video game-development companies that depend on legitimate sales of games for their survival. In the U.K. alone, there have been over 100,000 game copying devices seized since 2009.

This U.K. judgment comes on the heels of another win for Nintendo earlier this month in the Netherlands; whereby the Hague District Court ruled that 11 Dutch online retailers acted unlawfully by importing and selling game copiers for use with Nintendo DS and modification chips for use with Wii. In Germany alone, there have been over 20 court decisions against sellers of the game copying devices. Other favourable court decisions against sellers of game copiers have been issued in: Australia, Hong Kong, Italy, Japan, Korea, Taiwan and the United States.