Nintendo ‘wins’ £9.3m from ROM-hosting sites for copyright infringement

JAPANESE GAMING FIRM Nintendo has reached a settlement with two ROM-hosting sites that it sued for “brazen” infringement of its intellectual property.

In a lawsuit filed back in July, Nintendo took aim at the LoveROMs and LoveRETRO websites, which at the time had over 17 million visitors each month and were accused of being “among the most open and notorious online hubs for pirated video games.”

“Through the LoveROMs and LoveRETRO websites, Defendants reproduce, distribute, publicly perform and display a staggering number of unauthorized copies of Nintendo’s video games, all without Nintendo’s permission,” Nintendo’s lawsuit alleged.

“This includes thousands of games developed for nearly every video game system Nintendo has ever produced.”

Following Nintendo’s legal threats, LoveROMS removed all Nintendo games from its website, while LoveRETRO was “effectively been shut down until further notice.”

That wasn’t enough for Ninty though, and the husband-and-wife owners of the now-defunct sites this week agreed to hand over $12m (£9.3m) to the company after admitting to both direct and indirect copyright infringement.

“Plaintiff is hereby awarded judgment against all Defendants, jointly and severally, in the amount of $12,230,000,” the judgement reads.

However, as noted by TorrentFreak, it’s unlikely that Nintendo will come after the full amount, and will rather use the high figure as a deterrent to others, with a smaller settlement likely to be agreed in private. 

The judgment also prohibits the site’s owners from using, sharing, or distributing Nintendo ROMs or other materials in the future, and requires them to provide Nintendo with all games, game files, and emulators in their custody, along with both domain names. µ