Nintendo Settles Court Case with Gaming Pirate

Nintendo have announced that they have settled a court case against an individual in Australia who had copied and uploaded the Wii's New Super Mario Bros.

The individual had secured a copy of the title in November last year, a week before its release date - and had uploaded it to the internet, enabling the game to spread rapidly through peer to peer networks.

Naughty gamers got an early taste of the anticipated Wii title, but its Nintendo who got the last laugh. By utilising online detective services they were able to track down the Austrlian individual and indentify them - resulting in a search warrant which uncovered incriminating evidence.

After a quick court battle, Nintendo was able to secure a punitive judgement against the pirate - with a court order forcing the individual to fess up with $1.5 million Australian dollars compensation for the company.

But even after that beneficial settlement Nintendo is talking tough. It issued these fighting words to would-be pirates:

Nintendo guards its intellectual property rights in order to protect the interests of its valued consumers, its own interests, as well as the interests of game development companies. Nintendo will pursue those who attempt to jeopardise our industry by using all means available to it under the law.

Fewer sales of Nintendo’s hardware and software systems means fewer resources that Nintendo, its licensees, developers and publishers have to create and market new video game products which is ultimately to the detriment of video game enthusiasts. When there is a decrease in game development, there is also a decrease in the number of jobs in the industry. The existence of piracy jeopardises the strength of the video game industry overall.

1.5 million is a very large sum for a single individual to pay. But it shows how seriously the gaming industry is treating illegal downloads and distribution.

What do you think - were Nintendo's actions justified here? Or was the compensation demanded too harsh?

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