Police in the Aichi region of Japan arrested a vendor of majikon (or "magic computer") adapters, which allow users to run illegally duplicated games on gaming hardware.

The BBC reports that the adapters in question permitted users to read SD cards on Nintendo DS hardware. Selling majikon-type adapters violates an amendment to Japan’s Unfair Competition Prevention Act, as illegally downloaded games can be written onto the SD cards and run on the DS using the adapters. Nintendo says that it hopes the arrest will discourage the sale of other versions of majikon adapters.

Majikon adapters were outlawed years ago in Japan, but enforcement only began at the end of 2011, so sale of the adapters continued. Nintendo says this arrest is the first targeting a suspected vendor of the adapter.

A Novemeber 2010 article from The Yomiuri Shimbun said the adapters could be purchased in Japanese storefronts from between 1,200 and 3,600 yen (or between $15 and $36). While Majikon are currently illegal in Japan, they can still be purchased through Chinese exporters.

Advocates of the adapters say that they help users run home-brew software, not pirated materials, like this legitimate Linux port for Nintendo's DS. But game companies and many governments—adapters have also been banned in the UK, Germany, South Korea, and Taiwan, among others—feel that piracy dwarfs legitimate uses. “According to research by the Tokyo-based Computer Entertainment Supplier's Association, illegal downloads of programs that enable the use of the adapters resulted in losses in sales of about 349.5 billion yen ($4.4 billion) for software used on Nintendo DS in the six years from 2004 to 2009,” The Yomiuri Shimbun reported.