Streamer faces $7.5 million lawsuit from Nintendo over alleged piracy, leaking unreleased games

[midian182]

In context: Nintendo, a company known as much for its iconic games as for its litigious nature, is once again sending its rabid lawyers after someone. This time, the firm has filed a lawsuit against a streamer accused of broadcasting pirated Nintendo games, often before their official release. He's also accused of pointing viewers to Switch emulators and other piracy tools.

Jesse Keighin, who streams under the name Every Game Guru, is named in a lawsuit filed by Nintendo last week. The suit claims that Keighin has streamed ten then-unreleased games over the past decade, including Mario & Luigi Brothership, The Legend of Zelda: Echoes of Wisdom, and Super Mario Party Jamboree. He's alleged to have streamed them at least 50 times in the last two years.

Nintendo also says that Keighin instructed viewers on how they could obtain and play the pirated games using "circumvention devices." Nintendo included screenshots of these actions in its lawsuit. One shows a post of a step-by-step guide Keighin wrote on how to play illegally downloaded ROMs. He also posted links leading to the Ryujinx, Yuzu, Suyu and Sudachi Nintendo Switch emulators, ROMs distribution websites, and a website offering Switch decryption keys.

Mario & Luigi Brothership

Nintendo is certainly no stranger to sending out cease-and-desist letters and takedown requests, threatening to sue people into oblivion if they don't reply. This tends to work, but Keighin responded to the copyright notices by opening new channels on other platforms. Keighin even taunted Nintendo by sending the company an email claiming he had "a thousand burner accounts" and that he could "do this all day."

Keighin has streamed on YouTube, Discord, Twitch, TikTok, Trovo, Kick, Vaughn, Dlive, Picarto, Nimo, Facebook, and Loco. Some of the other titles he's accused of streaming before their release date include Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door, Mario vs. Donkey Kong, Super Mario RPG, Super Mario Bros. Wonder, Pikmin 4, Splatoon 3 and Mario Strikers: Battle League.

Nintendo is asking the court for $15,000 for every instance that Keighin violated its copyright and $2,500 for each contravention of its anti-circumvention and anti-trafficking provisions in the Copyright Act. It is also seeking "actual damages" for lost revenue, an amount it intends to "prove at trial." With at least 50 instances of Keighin streaming pirated games, the total amount could reach more than $7.5 million.

Furthermore, Nintendo wants the court to take down Keighin's streams and videos, and seize emulators, hacked devices, and hard drives where the alleged illegally obtained games are stored.

"Streaming leaked games prior to their publication normalises and encourages prerelease piracy - Defendant is signaling to viewers that they too should acquire a pirated copy and play the game now, without waiting for its release and without paying for it," Nintendo's lawyers wrote in the filing.

"Pre-release piracy harms law-abiding Nintendo customers who may have been waiting for a particular game release for months or years, and then may see gameplay and spoilers online that ruin their own surprise and delight when experiencing the game."

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Streamer faces $7.5 million lawsuit from Nintendo over alleged piracy, leaking unreleased games

 

[nnguy2]

This probably won't well financially for him.

 

[redgarl]

Damage and interest can only be given if the claimant can prove the lost...

Nintendo will never be able to prove that there was any lost because they cannot proves there was an impact on sales.

The judge will probably dismiss the case.

 

[Theinsanegamer]

Damage and interest can only be given if the claimant can prove the lost...

Nintendo will never be able to prove that there was any lost because they cannot proves there was an impact on sales.

The judge will probably dismiss the case.

Defendant still has to pay legal fees to get to that point. Costs a lot of $$$$.

Would be hilarious if sony came though and bankrolled the defendant, just for lulz.

 

[unoficialoficial]

In the past, people eagerly anticipated the release of high quality games or movies, often forming long lines to purchase them. Today, there is an overwhelming abundance of content available, and users no longer possess the same level of enthusiasm for new material as they once did. As a result, the position of content creators has significantly weakened compared to previous times.

When someone does engage with your product, it's a rare occurrence that should be cherished regardless of financial implications, given the vast number of alternatives available. It's challenging for a company to build a dedicated audience in such a saturated market. It's akin to having 100 friends inviting you to hang out, but inevitably, you can't accommodate them all, and some invitations may be declined due to time constraints. However, if it's just two friends, the dynamics change; sometimes, you might even treat them to a meal simply for their company.

When players engage with your game, they generate network social effects around it. These effects are often cheaper and more organic than traditional forms of advertising.

Given the current context, it's understandable that parents might be hesitant to buy video games for their children, even if those games are of high quality. There will be legitimate concerns about fostering a dependence on them. It's possible that exposure to such video games at a young age could lead to future problems with the law as the children grow older and potentially grapple with impulsive decision-making related with the copyright of those games.

 

[GABulldog]

Let's spend 15 million on litigation so we can get $7.5 million that we will never receive anyways.