Nintendo claims millions of $ LoveROMs and LoveRETRO that offer online ROM games, signal against piracy or enrichment?



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When you want to play video games, you have the choice between investing in a console and paying for legal video games as video game publishers encourage and turn to less legal solutions like emulators and video game ROMs (in this case, a program of games available numerically and not on a cartridge of video games) offered by sites called pirates. In the latter case, users can access a plethora of recent games or sometimes no longer marketed by the publisher.

Although emulators and ROMs available on online sites allow users to play recent games or retro without paying any penny, this practice is ultimately condemned by the publishers of video games. Last week, Nintendo of America filed a lawsuit against LoveROMs.com by Jacob Mathias and LoveRETRO.co by Mathias Designs claiming that the two sites have infringed the copyright laws of the company's brands. We recall that these two sites offer download to the users of many video game ROMs from different publishers including ROMs for Nintendo's video games.

Although this complaint is not an exceptional fact in itself, the highlight in this case is that the company claims damages and interest of $ 150,000 per game without authorization and up to $ 2 million for each trademark infringement. . And since both sites would have sold more than 140 games and used more than 40 registered brands, the compensation costs required by Nintendo could reach $ 100 million.

As arguments supporting this complaint, Nintendo argues that LoveROMs and LoveRETRO sites are among the most open and well-known online platforms for video piracy games. Through the LoveROMs and LoveRETRO websites, defendants reproduce, distribute, publicly execute and display an impressive number of unauthorized copies of Nintendo's video games, all without Nintendo's permission. This includes thousands of games developed for almost every video game system that Nintendo has ever produced.

Nintendo adds that in addition to video games, the accuss reproduce, distribute and publish a vast library of Nintendo's other protected works on and through LoveROMs and LoveRETRO sites, including proprietary BIOS software for several Nintendo video game systems and thousands of musical works and audio recordings. The accussers also use Nintendo's registered trademarks, including the Nintendo logo and the best-known Nintendo video game characters, to encourage visitors to download and read unauthorized copies of Nintendo's copyrighted works.

the Japanese company based in the United States clarifies in its complaint that the defenders are not casual players, but rather sophisticated groups with a thorough knowledge of the intellectual property of Nintendo and the video game industry in general. Among the most famous games offered by LoveROMs, we have Super Mario World, Mario Kart 64, Super Mario Bros 3, Super Mario All Stars to name but a few.

Regarding LoveRETRO, it offers games like Super Mario 3, several versions of Pokmon, Dragon Ball Z and games for different consoles

Following this complaint, LoveRETRO decided to close its website. LoveROMs, which initially removed all links related to Nintendo's work including ROMs and emulators, eventually closed the site until further notice.

However, even though this lawsuit has already shown promising results on the Nintendo side by the closure of these two sites, some users wonder if the amounts required by Nintendo would not reflect more for the company a desire to bail out its crates than to fight against piracy?

Source: Complaint Filed by Nintendo of America

And You?

What do you think of Nintendo's legal action against these two sites?

Are the amounts required by Nintendo justified?

Or is it a way to bail out the company's cash flow?

See also

Google has searched more than 65,000 pirate sites for its search results, but the entertainment industry is asking for their removal
Copyright: The video game industry oppose exemption for abandoned online games fearing fraudulent use
ECJ finds Pirate Bay infringes copyright, paving the way for blocking torrent sites in several countries
Developers of a WiiU emulator receive 24 $ 000 per month for their work, their Patreon climbs since the release of Zelda
The second life of video games, Sega Mega Drive Hub and other Nintendo Virtual Console

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