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> Well, here's the story... I got in touch with the holder of the copyright, a paralegal for Nintendo. Her number was listed with the paperwork that Customs gave me. I asked her some questions, and let her know about section 117, blah blah blah. Anyway, she said that section 117 giving users the right to backup software only pertained to business software, not games. I asked her to provide me with proof of this, or any paperwork to back that up. She couldn't come up with anything and referred me to the head of the anti-piracy department, who could also not produce anything supporting their claim.
> Anyway, after I did that, I wrote my petition and submitted it to Customs. I decided to leave out the part about me speaking with Nintendo, because I didn't want to directly challenge the claims of a big company with attorneys. I kind of regret that now, though. I've posted it at the bottom of this message if you want to read it.
> About a week later I called up Customs to check on the progress of my case and the lady said that that I'd most likely be getting it back. She said that I had some really good points and that all they have to do now is get proof that Nintendo doesn't own the copyright on the actual Wildcard(which they don't). The woman was actually siding with me and saying that Nintendo would probably try to stop every third party device from coming in if it was up to them. She said I'd probably have to wait a couple of weeks for all the paperwork and everything to go through, but I'll most likely be getting it back. Yay!
> Well, here's the letter I wrote if anyone wants to read it... Thanks a lot for all your help guys!
> To Whom It May Concern,
> My name is ******* ********, and my case number is **************. I recently ordered a piece of hardware from China that was seized by U.S. Customs, and I am writing this letter of petition in hopes of that hardware being relieved from forfeiture.
> The piece of hardware that I ordered is called the Super Wildcard DX2. It is an attachment device for the Super Nintendo Entertainment System, SNES for short. The SNES was released in 1990, I believe. It featured cartridge-based games that you could buy individually, and you would play whatever cartridge you inserted into the SNES console. Some games would take a really long period of time to complete, and couldn’t be finished or beaten in one sitting. For these games, Nintendo used battery-backed memory, which normally lasts about 4-5 years. You would be able to save your game at a certain point, and continue from that point later. The battery memory was located in each individual cartridge game, and not in the SNES itself. After the battery life of a game dies, it can not be saved or continued anymore. On top of that, the quality of most cartridges decline heavily over the years and some stop working altogether. I believe Nintendo stopped manufacturing games for the SNES in 1997, as they had been moving on to better technology and games.
> The Super Wildcard DX2 unit is known as a game backup device. If you have a game with a dead battery, you will be able to attach the Super Wildcard DX2 to the SNES, insert the cartridge, and once again have the ability to save your game at a certain point and continue later. Instead of the information being saved to the battery-backed memory, it can now be saved to a floppy disk in the Super Wildcard. The floppy disk will never run out of battery life because it doesn’t need batteries to function.
> The reason stated for confiscation of the unit was that it “Is an infringing copy of a copyrighted work registered with the U.S. Customs Service.” The backup device itself is in no way an infringement of any copyrighted work; No peripheral attachment for a video game system would be. It does however, have the ability to make an infringing copy of a game. That is, if you copy a game that you don’t already own. It is no more of an infringement than a VCR, tape recorder or CD writer. They all have the potential to make infringing copies, or legal copies. Section 117 of the Copyright Act of 1976 gives users the right to make a backup of software that they already own. I do have the right to backup the games that I had bought years ago. That being said, the reason stated for confiscation leads me to believe that the Super Wildcard was possibly mistaken for a fake SNES unit. Whatever the case may be, I am really looking forward to being able to relieve my Super Wildcard from forfeiture as soon as possible.
> I trust that this matter is in good hands and hope we can resolve it soon. Thanks a lot for your time.
>
> Sincerely,
> ****** *******
