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Aussie gets $1.5 million dollar (AU) fine for copy/uploading NSMBWii

V

VOOK

We don't know why he keeps buying PAL, either.
Nintendo Takes Action To Combat Video Game Piracy
Australia, 9 February, 2010
Nintendo confirms the settlement of a Federal Court action against an individual in Australia for illegally copying and uploading to the Internet the first game file of Nintendo’s highly-anticipated video game, New Super Mario Bros. Wii for the Wii™ console. The game file was first made available for illegal download worldwide on 6 November, 2009, a week prior to its official release in Australia.

This legal proceeding was commenced to protect the creative rights and innovation of game developers, and to combat the growing international problem of Internet piracy. Under Australian law, copying and distributing games without the permission of the copyright holder is a breach of the Copyright Act.

The legal proceeding resulted in a settlement in which the individual will pay to Nintendo the sum of $1.5 Million dollars by way of damages to compensate Nintendo for the loss of sales revenue caused by the individual’s actions.

Upon the game being uploaded to the Internet, Nintendo was able to employ the use of sophisticated technological forensics to identify the individual responsible for illegally copying the file and making it available for further distribution. On 23 November, 2009, Nintendo obtained a Federal Court search order in respect of the individual’s residential premises. This led to the seizure of property from those premises in order to gain further evidence against the individual.

Nintendo guards its intellectual property rights in order to protect the interests of its valued consumers, its own interests, as well as the interests of game development companies. Nintendo will pursue those who attempt to jeopardise our industry by using all means available to it under the law.

Nintendo has been working to combat piracy for approximately 20 years. 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. Fewer sales of Nintendo’s hardware and software systems means fewer resources that Nintendo, its licensees, developers and publishers have to create and market new video game products which is ultimately to the detriment of video game enthusiasts. When there is a decrease in game development, there is also a decrease in the number of jobs in the industry. The existence of piracy jeopardises the strength of the video game industry overall.

For more information about Nintendo’s global anti-piracy activities, please visit: http://ap.nintendo.com
Click to expand...

Since we got the game first in the world means you don't want to fuck with Nintendo on this one :lol

Piracy is too rife here in Australia, many see it as a right :/

sauce
 
N

nyong

Banned
I fully support going after individual offenders, especially if they're the ones distributing. Many see it as a right, or at least a moral-gray, in the U.S. as well. This is not going to change.
 
V

Visualante

Member
I always wondered if the people who actually up the game image ever got prosecuted. Seems fair to me.

They should really be more careful covering their tracks, huh..

It's not like Nintendo is actively taking steps to prevent piracy on Wii though. At a hardware level. Compared to Microsoft's ban waves and Sony's hypervisor dealy.
 
W

wizword

Banned
I hate these type of articles because this just reflects how poor our judiciary system is for piracy. This basically screws over 1 person life and doesn't do anything towards piracy. Nintendo isn't really stopping piracy, they are basically screwing over one person's life because he didn't give them 50 $s for a game.
 
K

~Kinggi~

Banned
At least they went after one of the original uploaders of the game and not some misc dude that was # 128128121 to download it. I'd support this. Although 1.5 million dollars for someone who is probably not wealthy is a bit ridiculous.
 
T

TheExodu5

Banned
I support going after the uploaders. I do not support going after the downloaders, however.

wizword said:
I hate these type of articles because it basically screws over 1 person life and doesn't do anything towards piracy. Nintendo isn't really stopping piracy they are basically screwing over one person's life because they didn't give them 50 $s for a game.
Click to expand...

That person willfully distributed it (not some simple P2P downloading technicality) and therefore was the source for thousands of people to obtain the game. He did not simply screw them out of $50, he screwed them out of many potential sales.
 
S

sphinx

the piano man
I am all for nintendo and other companies sueing pirates but I wished they took a minute to look at the insane price tags in Australia and understand why someone tried to make copies of the game.

Australian stuff being 2 o 3 times more expensive that whatever anyone else in the world is paying for gaming is bullshit and fuck "particular economies" or "Economic enviroments". That's bullshit as well. Australians are not to blame for being born in a very unstrategic place in the (financial) world.

I am not even Australian, I went there 2 times for work, wanted DS and Gameboy games and when I was converting money, I was like " WHAT. THE. FUCK. is this "
 
M

mugurumakensei

Member
wizword said:
I hate these type of articles because it basically screws over 1 person life and doesn't do anything towards piracy. Nintendo isn't really stopping piracy they are basically screwing over one person's life because they didn't give them 50 $s for a game.
Click to expand...

This guy didn't download the game. He's the one that ripped it and uploaded it to be downloaded by others.
 
S

seantos

Neo Member
I am all for punishing the person, but is 1.5 million really a sum that the person will ever be able to pay? It seems like this would force the person to declare bankruptcy. Who really wins in that case?
 
V

Visualante

Member
sphinx said:
I am all for nintendo and other companies sueing pirates but I wished they took a minute to look at the insane price tags in Australia and understand why someone tried to make copies of the game.
Click to expand...
Did you not read the OP? It was released early in Australia. While I don't doubt releases there are overpriced this was quite blatantly because the accused thought it would be smart to upload it for the World before release.
 
S

spwolf

Member
seantos said:
I am all for punishing the person, but is 1.5 million really a sum that the person will ever be able to pay? It seems like this would force the person to declare bankruptcy. Who really wins in that case?
Click to expand...

it is not about they money, it is about striking fear into the black pirate hearts
 
S

Slavik81

Member
That seems extraordinarily excessive for non-commercial copyright infringement. Particularly for someone who wasn't contractually bound by an NDA or other secondary agreement.

I'm all for enforcement, but let's not give out hundred thousand dollar tickets for speeding.
 
V

viciouskillersquirrel

Member
Mar_ said:
Sucks to be that guy. Also, sucked in, guy.
Click to expand...
Pretty much. Downloading a game image is little more than petty thievery. Distributing it, especially if you stand to gain financially, is a rather different beast. Nintendo are well within their rights to prosecute, just as I am well within my rights to reverse-engineer, repair, modify and hack any and all Nintendo-manufactured hardware I own as I see fit (*unf!*).

Still, $1.5 million is just a little over the top. That'll basically clean him out, bankrupt him and force him to start again.
 
E

EctoPrime

Member
This seems like Nintendo just want to make a statement, if they wanted money they could easily go after Westfarmers who own Coles, Kmart and Target all of which have sold those dvd players that include hundreds of Nes roms at one point in time.

I dont think that would ever happen however considering the vast amount they must make from them each year compared to what they could get in a court case.
 
I

Iadien

Guarantee I'm going to screw up this post? Yeah.
TheExodu5 said:
I support going after the uploaders. I do not support going after the downloaders, however.



That person willfully distributed it (not some simple P2P downloading technicality) and therefore was the source for thousands of people to obtain the game. He did not simply screw them out of $50, he screwed them out of many potential sales.
Click to expand...

That is such BS, if this guy didn't do it, someone else would have. Also, if you mod the Wii, can't you only use it for pirated copies? If so, then no, it did not screw Nintendo out of very much money if any at all.

This kind of thing does not do anything to prevent piracy, and is being used by the companies to make extra money.
 
T

teekun

Member
Visualante said:
I always wondered if the people who actually up the game image ever got prosecuted. Seems fair to me.
Click to expand...

I thought they only really cared about uploaders when it came to taking people to court. Bittorrent users usually get busted for movies and music because they uploaded as well as downloaded.
 
M

ManeKast

Member
This will get headlines and the 1.5million is a pretty good scare tactic. I dont think Nintendo will care if they get it from the person or not, its all about putting fear into the hearts of future would be uploaders.

It wont work. Someone will do it anyway. Nintendo will still gain millions in profit.
 
F

firehawk12

Subete no aware
I'm kind of interested in how they tracked this guy down. If the game was watermarked, I have to assume it was a press copy, since there'd be no way to track down a guy at Gamestop who decides to rip and upload the game.

If dude was stupid enough to upload his press copy of the game... well, he kind of deserves it, really.
 
P

PSGames

Junior Member
DidntKnowJack said:
Doesn't change the fact he was stealing the game.
Click to expand...

He actually didn't steal it. The wording from the article is he ripped the game and uploaded it. And not to mention the people that downloaded it wouldn't have paid for the game in the first place. Ruining this man's life for uploading a $50 game he paid for is a bit much don't you think?
 
V

viciouskillersquirrel

Member
Iadien said:
That is such BS, if this guy didn't do it, someone else would have. Also, if you mod the Wii, can't you only use it for pirated copies? If so, then no, it did not screw Nintendo out of very much money if any at all.

This kind of thing does not do anything to prevent piracy, and is being used by the companies to make extra money.
Click to expand...
Iadien
Guarantee I'm going to screw up this post? Yeah.
(Today, 12:39 PM)
Reply | Quote

Soft-modding your Wii is the only way you can get around Nintendo's bullshit region restriction policies.
 
-COOLIO-

-COOLIO-

The Everyman
they're willing to sacrifice a mans life (in a sense) to produce a deterrent. i find this ruling morally abhorrent. if any of you agree with this then turn in all of your pirating friends to the police because you must think it's a truly heinous crime.
 
B

BloodySinner

Banned
-COOLIO- said:
they're willing to sacrifice a mans life (in a sense) to produce a deterrent. i find this ruling morally abhorrent. if any of you agree with this then turn in all of your pirating friends to the police because you must think it's a truly heinous crime.
Click to expand...

What else could they do? They've got to send the message in a meaningful matter.
 
N

Nicktals

Banned
PSGames said:
He actually didn't steal it. The wording from the article is he ripped the game and uploaded it. And not to mention the people that downloaded it wouldn't have paid for the game in the first place. Ruining this man's life for uploading a $50 game he paid for is a bit much don't you think?
Click to expand...

And where did he buy the game legally, a week before the Australian launch (which was the first in the world, I believe, for this game).

I think in a situation like this, where a highly anticipated game gets leaked a week early, it absolutely does hurt sales of the game for people that would otherwise buy it. People don't want to be punished for being legal. Many would download it so they can play it, and say "I'll buy it when it releases", only to, ya know, not.
 
C

Corran Horn

May the Schwartz be with you
Don't people in US get fined/sued/whatever large sums of money for file sharing too? Could swear people being fined hundreds of thousands for music sharing. Doesn't sound that high of number but not expecting it to be paid.
 
E

evlcookie

but ever so delicious
viciouskillersquirrel said:
Pretty much. Downloading a game image is little more than petty thievery. Distributing it, especially if you stand to gain financially, is a rather different beast. Nintendo are well within their rights to prosecute, just as I am well within my rights to reverse-engineer, repair, modify and hack any and all Nintendo-manufactured hardware I own as I see fit (*unf!*).

Still, $1.5 million is just a little over the top. That'll basically clean him out, bankrupt him and force him to start again.
Click to expand...

He doesn't stand to gain anything financially from doing this. He isn't sitting at a market selling it for $10 a pop. He was the first and in the "Scene" that's all that matters. It's not about making money it's about being first.

The fine is somewhat pointless. Pirates get fined all the time and yet it's still going on. How on earth is he going to pay back that $1.5m, is Nintendo expecting to ever see it? Charge him 100k and be done. Make it a realistic figure.
 
-COOLIO-

-COOLIO-

The Everyman
BloodySinner said:
What else could they do? They've got to send the message in a meaningful matter.
Click to expand...
give the man the fine he should get. a shoplifting fine is a couple hundred in NA right? do that.
 
M

mugurumakensei

Member
-COOLIO- said:
give the man the fine he should get. a shoplifting fine is a couple hundred in NA right? do that.
Click to expand...

This is nothing like shoplifting. It's closer to stealing a truck of CDs then giving it to people.
 
lowrider007

lowrider007

Licorice-flavoured booze?
Bang out of order and completely disproportionate to the crime, people can commit murder and rape and get away with much less.
 
A

AshMcCool

Member
Seriously the fine is ridicilously high. That is, if the guy is not superrich. Will probably be adjusted in appeal to something an ordinary guy can afford, I guess its more something symbolic. Or is the australian legal system that fucked up?
 
V

viciouskillersquirrel

Member
-COOLIO- said:
they're willing to sacrifice a mans life (in a sense) to produce a deterrent. i find this ruling morally abhorrent. if any of you agree with this then turn in all of your pirating friends to the police because you must think it's a truly heinous crime.
Click to expand...
More than likely, it was a dude with a preview or review copy. Nintendo probably marked the game somehow with an easily-trackable ID somewhere in the game's code. That means that when the dude uploaded it, it was easily identifyable as a single particular review copy.

The dude didn't just pirate, he probably broke an NDA and a few other things.

It's excessive (I'd have thought an amount closer to what film pirates would pay is much closer to justice). Does anyone remember the fines for individuals pirating films (here in Australia, I mean)? I think there are limits to it in the order of $50,000 for individuals, $250,000 for corporations.

evlcookie said:
He doesn't stand to gain anything financially from doing this. He isn't sitting at a market selling it for $10 a pop. He was the first and in the "Scene" that's all that matters. It's not about making money it's about being first.

The fine is somewhat pointless. Pirates get fined all the time and yet it's still going on. How on earth is he going to pay back that $1.5m, is Nintendo expecting to ever see it? Charge him 100k and be done. Make it a realistic figure.
Click to expand...
I agree about the fine (see my comment).

Mind, the dude's crime isn't so much uploading the game, but more that he probably did a few dodgy things to do it. It basically amounts to corporate espionage.
 
N

Nicktals

Banned
-COOLIO- said:
give the man the fine he should get. a shoplifting fine is a couple hundred in NA right? do that.
Click to expand...

If I steal cigarettes, I'm not stealing cigarettes for a million people.

If I did, they would fine me 5-10x the amount I stole. So assuming a million people downloaded his upload, that would be 50 million dollars, so multiply that by 10...and, going by petty theft fines in Michigan, it would be 500 million dollars.
 
U

udivision

Member
It's not like he didn't know it was a possibility. If a sign says "theft will result in $500,000 fines" and you understand that, saying it's a ridiculous amount of money isn't the best way to defend your actions of stealing.
 
-COOLIO-

-COOLIO-

The Everyman
viciouskillersquirrel said:
More than likely, it was a dude with a preview or review copy. Nintendo probably marked the game somehow with an easily-trackable ID somewhere in the game's code. That means that when the dude uploaded it, it was easily identifyable as a single particular review copy.

The dude didn't just pirate, he probably broke an NDA and a few other things.

It's excessive (I'd have thought an amount closer to what film pirates would pay is much closer to justice). Does anyone remember the fines for individuals pirating films (here in Australia, I mean)? I think there are limits to it in the order of $50,000 for individuals, $250,000 for corporations.
Click to expand...

in that case those fines are appropriate, why are they so high for this case though?

also, if someone was so eager to get this uploaded then are they making money of it somehow?
 
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