Nintendo of America has announced that a Canadian federal court has ruled in their favour in a case against Jeramie King and his affiliated business, Go Cyber Shopping.
The case confirmed that the distribution of circumvention devices such as flash carts, mod chips or game copiers was illegal, with Sky3DS and Gateway 3DS having become a particular problem for Nintendo in recent years.
The court awarded Nintendo $12.76 million (CAD) against Go Cyber Shopping, which included $1 million in punitive damages. Nintendo notes that the case is the first to test the Canadian Copyright Act’s Anti-Circumvention law, and are suitably pleased with their resounding win.
Through a storefront and multiple websites that he controlled, King distributed game copier devices and mod chips as well as offering hardware modification services. These allowed users to circumvent Nintendo’s console security measures to download and play illegal copies of their games, which, in turn, violated the company’s copyrights and trademarks.
“Nintendo continues to be a leader in bringing innovative gaming platforms and software to our fans and millions of gamers across the globe,” said Devon Pritchard, Nintendo of America’s general counsel and senior vice president of business affairs.
“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.”
Nintendo adds that after spending years “routinely boasting of his activities on social media,” King will now be forced to apologise on his website for the damage that he has caused to Nintendo, its developers and partners.
