Nintendo of America (NOA) has filed a $4.5 million lawsuit against a Reddit moderator over piracy allegations..
The lawsuit filed on 3 October states that the moderator, one James “Archbox” Williams, copied, distributed, and promoted Nintendo Switch piracy to a wide audience.
Nintendo claims it tried to solve the issue amicably by issuing a cease and decease notice to James in 2024 but to no avail, hence the filing.
A fair request
NOA in its filing stated that Williams may have created, operated, supported, and promoted piracy websites that allowed users to download “extensive” libraries of Nintendo Switch games.
It further claimed that Williams sent thousands of messages on Reddit to other users directing them to piracy websites.
He also allegedly offered technical support to fans attempting to mod their Switch, while asking for Nintendo eShop gift cards in exchange for his services.
NOA says the damage done by Williams may be unquantifiable, so the $4.5 million demand is a modest and considerate one.
“Here, the amount of money sufficient to remedy NOA’s injury would be extremely difficult to quantify; but it is indisputable that such amount would be large. Therefore, the money at stake by this Motion is nowhere near an amount that would compensate NOA for the seriousness of Defendants’ conduct.”
Not the first time
This is not the first time Nintendo has suffered from piracy cases. Just last month, the company was in court with a Switch modder who tried to fight Nintendo without a lawyer and got fined $2 million.
There have been many other cases involving users pirating major releases long before they are available for sale.
Nintendo has however managed to win many of the cases in court and gone after hardware hackers and those who facilitate piracy, with millions in compensation paid to the company.
What do you think?
Join Techgaged on Telegram
Get first-access to daily trending tech stories, AI breakthroughs, and more, before it hits your feed.
