There are more than a few people on this planet I really wouldn’t want to annoy. The Mafia, the Cartel, my wife… Chief amongst them, however, has to likely be Nintendo or, more specifically, their legal department.
Yes, despite the fun and cute presentation the company likes to make, their lawyers are anything but! Just to give you an example of this, we recently saw a fan-made Mario Brothers battle royale game shut down with a DMCA literally just days after it’s launch.
In a report via Kotaku, however, it seems that they have now moved onto a new, but very familiar target. Popular ROM website RomUniverse is facing shutdown as Nintendo has launched legal action against the owners suing for millions of dollars over infringement.
Nintendo Launches Legal Action Against Another ROM Website
So, what is the problem here? Well, if you’re asking that question you probably haven’t had much experience with emulators or ROM files. Put simply, websites such as this offer the game ‘data’ files so that they can be downloaded and played via software applications. In other words, not only are they sharing the property of Nintendo, but they are also cut out of any monetary gain loop. Therefore, it’s hardly surprising that they have more than a little problem with sites such as these.
This isn’t, incidentally, the first time that Nintendo has sought legal action against a website such as this. For example, last year they successfully sued the owners of two ROM websites for just over $12m.
How Much Are They Suing For?
Well, for that you have to do a little maths and then apply some creative thinking. Nintendo is specifically suing for “$150,000 for each copyright infringement, and up to $2 million for each trademark infringement”. Considering that RomUniverse hosts over 60,000 ROM files, we’re looking at a figure potentially in the billions of dollars.
That will, however, likely be settled to a much lower, but still hugely significant number. Put simply though, other ROM websites really need to start paying attention to these cases because sooner or later, Nintendo is coming!
What do you think? – Let us know in the comments!
