Mike Bantick
Tuesday, 09 February 2010 13:21
Opinion and Analysis
Page 1 of 2
Nintendo has confirmed the result of legal action taken against an Australian who uploaded a copy of New Super Mario Bros Wii to the internet. Nintendo is hoping to send shivers through the timbers of all software pirates.
Nintendo has revealed the result of recent legal action against an Australian individual caught uploading a copy of the highly-anticipated (and subsequently high selling) game, New Super Mario Bros. Wii.
According to Nintendo, the game became available on the internet on November 6th 2009, a week prior to its official release.
Nintendo has said it was “..... was able to employ the use of sophisticated technological forensics to identify the individual responsible for illegally copying the file and making it available for further distribution. On 23 November, 2009, Nintendo obtained a Federal Court search order in respect of the individual's residential premises. This led to the seizure of property from those premises in order to gain further evidence against the individual.”
This legal proceeding was commenced to protect the creative rights and innovation of game developers, and to combat the growing international problem of Internet piracy. Under Australian law, copying and distributing games without the permission of the copyright holder is a breach of the Copyright Act.
The legal proceeding resulted in a settlement in which the individual will pay to Nintendo the sum of AU$1.5 Million dollars by way of damages to compensate Nintendo for the loss of sales revenue caused by the individual’s actions.
No other details of the case are available, but Nintendo is hoping that by using terms such as “the use of sophisticated technological forensics to identify the individual responsible” will make people with piracy leanings think twice before tying their bandanna too tightly.
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