Valve wouldn't host Dolphin on Steam because it 'can't sit in judgement' on Nintendo's fight against emulators
Last week Nintendo managed to block the Steam release of the Gamecube and Wii emulator Dolphin. Initial reports had it that this was a DMCA takedown, but it soon emerged that—as Dolphin is not yet available for download on Steam—Valve had contacted Nintendo in advance, and been rewarded with a warning shot across the bows.
Valve spokesperson Kaci Aitchison Boyle subsequently confirmed to The Verge that this legal letter came about because Valve had contacted Nintendo. “Given Nintendo’s history of taking action against some emulators, we brought this to their attention proactively after the Dolphin team announced it was coming soon to Steam".
The legal notice in question, reviewed by PC Gamer, is addressed to Valve's legal department and dated May 26, 2023.
«Because the Dolphin emulator violates Nintendo’s intellectual property rights, including but not limited to its rights under the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA)’s Anti-Circumvention and AntiTrafficking provisions, 17 U.S.C. § 1201, we provide this notice to you of your obligation to remove the offering of the Dolphin emulator from the Steam store,» reads the document.
«Here, there is no allegation that Valve is currently hosting anything that infringes Nintendo’s copyright or, more broadly, violates the DMCA,» says attorney Kellen Voyer of Voyer Law, which specializes in intellectual property and technology law. «Rather, Nintendo is sending clear notice to Valve that it considers Dolphin to violate the DMCA and should it be released on Steam, Nintendo will likely take further action. Given that Valve controls what is available on its store, it made the decision not to wade into any dispute between the Dolphin developers and Nintendo and, instead, followed
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