Nintendo has achieved a new success in the fight against pirates. Thanks to an old Reddit post, the lawyers have caught a pirate who now has to pay 4.5 million US dollars.
The title image is a symbolic image.
Who is it about? In July 2024, it became known that Nintendo filed a lawsuit against the main moderator of the Reddit “SwitchPirates”, James “Archbox” W. (via torrentfreak). He was accused in the lawsuit of operating several illegal shops where he sold pirated games for the Switch. Furthermore, he helped others bypass Nintendo’s security measures so that the sold games would work.
To catch the pirate, Nintendo did real detective work and sifted through old Reddit posts. Only thanks to a 9-year-old post did the lawyers come across a clue that ultimately revealed his identity. The court has now made its ruling, and this will be costly for the pirate.
No strategy is no strategy
How did the trial go? After the pirate did not respond to Nintendo’s cease-and-desist order, the company sued him. They brought the charges to court, where the defendant, Reddit moderator, was given a deadline to comment on the matter.
But instead of consulting a lawyer and building a defense strategy, the defendant did nothing. He apparently did not show up in court at all, did not make a statement, and also did not present any counter-evidence that could have helped him in the situation.
But that had consequences: The court decided in favor of Nintendo America and convicted the pirate.
What does the penalty look like? Nintendo America “respectfully” urged the court to rule in their favor and impose a compensation payment of 4.5 million US dollars (about 3.85 million euros), as stated in the court documents on Bluesky.
For the reasons stated above, NOA [Nintendo America] respectfully requests that the court issue a default judgment in favor of NOA and against W. for monetary compensation in the amount of 4,500,000 as well as a preliminary injunction in the form of the proposed injunction.
Excerpt from court documents via Bluesky
The court ruled in favor of Nintendo and imposed the requested amount as a penalty. Furthermore, the now convicted pirate must refrain from his actions in the future.
How does the community react to the verdict? Even though people on Reddit don’t seem to be the biggest fans of Nintendo, many gamers think the strategy of the pirate was quite poor. They cannot understand why the then-accused did not hire a lawyer and at least tried to reduce the high compensation amount.
For them, it is clear that a court trial without their own participation would hardly lead to a positive outcome. The community sees the fact that the convicted now has to pay 4.5 million US dollars as a consequence of not caring.
The fight against pirates is not the only legal matter affecting the company. The well-known legal dispute between Palworld and Nintendo continues. However, the company behind Palworld is hardly deterred by it: In the midst of the legal dispute with Nintendo, Palworld announces its release – Explains what they will do now
