Pirate owes Nintendo $1.5 Million in Damages

[Gikoku]

Pirate owes Nintendo $1.5 Million in Damages

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A pirate who illegally copied and uploaded the first New Super Mario Bros. Wii game file to the internet has been ordered to pay Nintendo $1.5 million in damages. Gutted.

The file was made available for illegal download worldwide on November 6, 2009, a week ahead of the game's official Australian launch.

"Nintendo has been working to combat piracy for approximately 20 years," the platform holder said. "Piracy is a significant threat to Nintendo's business, as well as over 1,400 game development companies working to provide unique and innovative games for the Nintendo platform... The existence of piracy jeopardises the strength of the video game industry overall."

 

[Arseface]

Re: Pirate owes Nintendo $1.5 Million in Damages

Good on him. Video games should be free, as should all art forms. For questions regarding the implications of that, see my views on money in the Zeitgeist thread

Wait, did I just call video games an art form?

 

[Firis]

Re: Pirate owes Nintendo $1.5 Million in Damages

I say that price is WAY to high and Nintendo is WAY to greedy, I have played better games on Newgrounds FOR FREE than I have played on the Wii for $50

 

[Arseface]

Re: Pirate owes Nintendo $1.5 Million in Damages

Come on John, you know what my argument is going to be for that.

 

[Arseface]

Re: Pirate owes Nintendo $1.5 Million in Damages

My argument would have been more along the lines of if enough people pirate what they want, take what they need (just from corporations, and businesses), etc, then money will become irrelevant.

 

[Tyloric]

Re: Pirate owes Nintendo $1.5 Million in Damages

Good on him. Video games should be free, as should all art forms. For questions regarding the implications of that, see my views on money in the Zeitgeist thread

...please be joking.

 

[Arseface]

Re: Pirate owes Nintendo $1.5 Million in Damages

What? I don't see the issue.

 

[Tsuyu]

Re: Pirate owes Nintendo $1.5 Million in Damages

People work hard to make a game, they should get paid for that work. Even if the game is far below my standards, it's still better than the truly free games out there.

Hey, that game is a friggin' classic!

 

[Gikoku]

[Update]

The pirate apologized for what he did, but also recommends that no other pirate repeats what he did as he'll be paying off this debt for the rest of his life. In case anyone is wondering how he got caught, he apparently bragged about his success on multiple forum boards and used the same username everywhere, making it easy to track his IP and match it.

"For James Burt, it's game over." Faced with paying a $1.5 million ($1.3 million USD) fine to Nintendo -- along with additional court costs -- the 24-year-old Australian man who illegally uploaded New Super Mario Bros. Wii to the internet now has to endure the trite (see: "game over" line).

As for Burt's considerable debt, he said, "It's something I'm going to have to work through for the rest of my life." It's a clear example and a harsh punishment -- especially when so many pirates escape without repercussion -- that Burt has warned his fellow gamers against.