Nintendo loves to tout its court victories publicly, and the latest is no joke. “Circumvention devices,” such as flashcarts, have been a pretty significant thorn in Nintendo’s side since the DS era. Now the company has won a court case against a particular seller of such devices in a Canadian federal court.
The seller in question, Jeramie King, ran a business called Go Cyber Shopping Ltd. Through this company, King sold devices like flashcarts and modchips. These are devices often used to do more wholesome things, like play imports on region-locked consoles, but generally more often to pirate games locally.
Quoth Nintendo’s Devon Pritchard, “Nintendo continues to be a leader in bringing innovative gaming platforms and software to our fans and millions of gamers across the globe. Nintendo has an established track record that demonstrates our resolve to protect our iconic characters and franchises. We will continue to protect the creative works of our developers and vigorously enforce our intellectual property rights against those that attempt to steal or misuse them.” King has to pay over $12 million in damages, as well as issue an apology to the company on his marketplace.
Nintendo certainly has a history of flexing its intellectual property rights, recently being infamous for shutting down several fan-made game projects. In this case, as useful as flashcarts can be for homebrew developers or importers, it’s hard not to see the logic. Nintendo has to establish protections of its IP, and there’s no arguing the devices aren’t used to not pay for games normally.
Source: Press Release