Nintendo is still keeping up its crusade against piracy, and according to a recent legal victory, they don't seem to be slowing down.
IGN reports that Nintendo just won a $2.1 million lawsuit against RomUniverse, a ROM hosting website, which hosted a slew of pirated Nintendo games that anyone can download. The lawsuit was filed back in September 2019, with the company seeking damages for federal trademark infringement and copyright infringement.
UKRAINE - 2021/03/25: In this photo illustration the Nintendo logo of a Japanese consumer electronics and video game company is seen on a smartphone and a pc screen.
Nintendo won the case because the accused owner of the ROM site, a Los Angeles resident named Matthew Storman, apparently decided to represent himself in court, as per PCGamer. Obviously, the results of this decision were less than stellar, at least for Storman.
Storman ran the website until the summer of 2020, when Nintendo caught wind of his operations and shut it down. He might've gotten off a bit easier if he were just pirating the games, but he was also apparently making illegal profits out of hosting the ROMs by offering unlimited downloads via paid "premium memberships."
The total amount in statutory damages that Storman must pay Nintendo is a pretty hefty $2,115,000, according to ComicBook.com. With an amount like that, Nintendo surely isn't playing around when it comes to dealing with pirates.
Read also: Nintendo Sues Popular ROM Website For Copyright Infringement
Nintendo: Pirate Hunters
Obviously, this isn't the first time that the Japan-based video game giant basically "hunted down" anyone who ever tried to infringe on their IP.
Another notable court case that the company filed back in April 2021 involved a person aptly named Bowser--Gary Bowser, to be exact. Bowser was sued not for being the big bad King Koopa but for heading an international piracy ring called Team Xecuter, which was among the major names in the illegal sale of hacking devices for the Nintendo Switch.
Nintendo Co. Switch game consoles and Switch Lite game consoles are displayed inside the Nintendo TOKYO store in Tokyo, Japan, on Tuesday, Aug. 4, 2020. Nintendo is scheduled to report first-quarter earnings figures on Aug. 6.
Storman is basically the same as Bowser in terms of offering pirate software for the massively popular Switch handheld console, which has made its parent company a fortune since it was launched in 2017. To date, the Nintendo Switch has sold over 84 million units. And with a new color (and possibly a "Pro" version releasing soon), the Switch seems to get even more popular well into its current life cycle.
But why is Nintendo so active and passionate about hunting pirates?
Well, the reason lies in their mostly software-based business model. Unlike their competitors in Sony, Microsoft, and every other big name in the gaming industry, Nintendo can only rely heavily on software sales. Their only major hardware breakthroughs are the Switch and the Wii, respectively, which while currently a bit aged, are still flying off the shelves.
TOKYO, JAPAN - 2021/03/03: Super Mario Nintendo Switch video games on display inside Nintendo Tokyo store in Shibuya.
Without their software sales, Nintendo can never hope to compete with big hardware-focused companies at all. So it makes a lot of sense that they'd go after guys like Storman and Bowser with such fervor. And so far, it's worked out for the company as a whole.
Related: Nintendo Switch Pro Rumors Suggest We're Getting Close To An Official Reveal
This article is owned by Tech Times
Written by RJ Pierce
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