Nintendo is going after more people who were involved in distributing Nintendo Switch warez and popularizing it on Reddit. A moderator, "Archbox", of the r/switchpiracy subreddit, is being sued by Nintendo for copyright infringement through distributing and hosting pirated Switch games. According to the court document, Nintendo attempted to reach out multiple times to the defendant, named James Williams, to get them to stop hosting "pirate shops" that would allow for seamless illegal game downloads from the Nintendo Switch console directly. Williams also requested user donations to help pay for the costs of hosting the illegal warez. Allegedly, after Nintendo reached out a final time with a cease and desist order, Williams stated a legal counsel would be in contact imminently, to which Nintendo claims never happened.

As a result, Nintendo is seeking $4.5 million dollars ($150,000 per infringement) from Williams in damages to their brand, as he was willfully breaking the law with "reckless abandon".

Source

 

[HalfScoper]

Ah, another day on the temp, another "news post" that brings out the worst.
Nothing to see, as usual.

 

[TheZander]

The guy is just trying to make an honest living. Now he's back on street selling drugs to babies.

 

[BlusterBong]

Not only they are cowards as it probably didn't affect their brand the slightest.

No matter how poorly Nintendo treat their costumers or how they align themselves with anti-democratic forces like anti-right-to-repair groups or let themselves be used by fascists, people keep buying more and more of their stuff.

And what would that really do if they did sue (and somehow win because of the US Governement not deciding to just ROFLStomp them by printing a ton of money, hiring lawyers that would've sided with them anyways, and just told them to fuck off), what do you think would happen?


Most people already forgot about it because it unfortunately was just a shitpost that demonstrably fell under fair use (undebatably more than most fangames since they made no money off it) and under US Law, you can't do shit about it unless they did make money off it. and if Nintendo did win, well say goodbye to sites like youtube or places like GBATemp because then Fair Use laws would become the Fair Use Suggestion and people wouldn't even be allowed to set a profile pic of any fictional character that comes from a Big IP without companies being able to throw the banhammer for doing so.

And that would be the same if the governemt used fuckin' Looney Tunes shorts instead of the pokemon anime. This is like claiming that people who don't like Lifetime Original Movies are misogonists who really hate women because they're "Based on a true story" even though they're heavily exagerated for entertainment and hardly even follow the "true stories".

 

[pustal]

And what would that really do if they did sue (and somehow win because of the US Governement not deciding to just ROFLStomp them by printing a ton of money, hiring lawyers that would've sided with them anyways, and just told them to fuck off), what do you think would happen?


Most people already forgot about it because it unfortunately was just a shitpost that demonstrably fell under fair use (undebatably more than most fangames since they made no money off it) and under US Law, you can't do shit about it unless they did make money off it. and if Nintendo did win, well say goodbye to sites like youtube or places like GBATemp because then Fair Use laws would become the Fair Use Suggestion and people wouldn't even be allowed to set a profile pic of any fictional character that comes from a Big IP without companies being able to throw the banhammer for doing so.

And that would be the same if the governemt used fuckin' Looney Tunes shorts instead of the pokemon anime. This is like claiming that people who don't like Lifetime Original Movies are misogonists who really hate women because they're "Based on a true story" even though they're heavily exagerated for entertainment and hardly even follow the "true stories".

LOL. It does not constitute fair use, it's not trasnformative, it's not about Pokémon itself and it uses the main part of the song for about 1 full minute.

Also I wonder if some people like you are aware of how much of a tangent they go on about just to cram more alt-right grievances.

 

[realtimesave]

Screw you. In 2025, we hate America, not Germany. Learn to live with it.

nobody cares if some brit with a huge ego problem hates the USA lmao.

 

[BlusterBong]

LOL. It does not constitute fair use, it's not trasnformative, it's not about Pokémon itself and it uses the main part of the song for about 1 full minute.

Also I wonder if some people like you are aware of how much of a tangent they go on about just to cram more alt-right grievances.

mate, it has the pokemon theme (1 minute of 3 and the video i linked getting away with not being struck dispite the onlything "transformative" being a bunch of anime screenshots and game artwork being put on screen) put over people getting deported by ICE, 4 clips from the anime intro in between (Yes, I counted), and a bunch of mock pokemon cards with mugshots of the people they deported at the end.

This is US Fair Use Laws working as intended, even as laid out on the official US Copyright Office website. If this is not "Transformative", then pedantic Video Essays or Let's Plays on YouTube arn't transformative either and would have been struck down already if Youtube's broken copyright system didn't do so already. If you don't like it, then go practice law, get a degree and explain to the lawyers who exist on both the left and right side of the political isle and have been doing this for literal decades why they're wrong.

 

[Deleted member 535703]

Well... I have neither the time nor the pencils to explain this to you, but: if the shop had only 10,000 users and each only downloaded only one AAA game from it... then damages would amount to 600k. Now, let's just assume that someone who is using a tinfoil shop downloads more than just one game. I think you can figure it out.

Well, we'd have a large number of factors here, right?

• Users
• Downloads
• Games Downloaded
• Developers
• Contract Agreements with Nintendo between developers

There's swathes of websites, and unless we can calculate the actual traffic to and from that specific warez website Nintendo is suing from, we have no frame of reference for when and how long people had downloaded things. If the shop had only 100,000 users who only pirated Hollow Knight, Nintendo only would have lost $500,000 in commission fees from the eShop.

Doing some rough estimation through various internet reports, I have an upper and lower bound for both unique users and files downloaded. At the very maximum, 500,000 files were downloaded. This would give us a maximum of thirty million if each of them were AAA priced at 60. However, the lowest bound is 5000, three hundred thousand dollars worth of triple A titles. But not every title is AAA, and not every title is solely Nintendo owned. My best guess is that Nintendo is using the same estimates to set a relatively high price point so that either:

• He's locked into a deal
• OR
• He's forced to reveal the real amount, which could very well be lower or slightly higher than the initial damage value.

So until there's hard evidence in place, it's fair to say Nintendo very well could be going over their bounds to force his hand.

 

[Marc_LFD]

Funny it happened to a Redditard.

 

[Hippocampus_Hamster]

...

More likely they're aiming to make an example out of him, like they do with most of their lawsuits. People see big numbers in the millions and don't consider that A) the vast majority of individuals cannot possibly hope to pay that much in their lifetime, and B) because of that, they'll likely only be paying a fraction of that amount, even if they made way more, as its hard to get money from someone who has nothing. Most just see big numbers and clutch their pearls and (Nintend'oh! hopes) deleting anything they had so they don't get found and sued next.

Of course anyone stupid enough to openly post their activity is going to be the sort to tell off the megacorp that "owns" the data thinking they're hot-shit for unfounded reasons... probably didn't even use a VPN or any sort of proxy to hid his idiocy either... So yeah, fully deserved lawsuit.

 

[pustal]

mate, it has the pokemon theme (1 minute of 3 and the video i linked getting away with not being struck dispite the onlything "transformative" being a bunch of anime screenshots and game artwork being put on screen) put over people getting deported by ICE, 4 clips from the anime intro in between (Yes, I counted), and a bunch of mock pokemon cards with mugshots of the people they deported at the end.

This is US Fair Use Laws working as intended, even as laid out on the official US Copyright Office website. If this is not "Transformative", then pedantic Video Essays or Let's Plays on YouTube arn't transformative either and would have been struck down already if Youtube's broken copyright system didn't do so already. If you don't like it, then go practice law, get a degree and explain to the lawyers who exist on both the left and right side of the political isle and have been doing this for literal decades why they're wrong.

Lol, you don't even read what you send me

 

[BlusterBong]

Lol, you don't even read what you send me

And you can't explain why the US Copyright Office is wrong dispute being the authority on what is and isn't and making it very clear how it works because I guess The US Government is just not allowed to use the legal systems it invented in it's own nation and it's always been like that .

 

[ertaboy356b]

That title has to be one of the stupidest things I've ever read. Him being a moderator on a subreddit is irrelevant to the issue. Charging for access to pirated content is wild, regardless of the outlet of choice.

On the other side, the number is made up bullshit.

Mods have a lot of soft power so pointing that out is appropriate.

 

[SaberLilly]

This is an instance where i am on nintendo's side here. Like someone said, hosting warez is one thing but also asking for donations to pay for hosting them, hoo boy you are treading on super thin ice there.

 

[AllOver]

Well, we'd have a large number of factors here, right?

• Users
• Downloads
• Games Downloaded
• Developers
• Contract Agreements with Nintendo between developers

There's swathes of websites, and unless we can calculate the actual traffic to and from that specific warez website Nintendo is suing from, we have no frame of reference for when and how long people had downloaded things. If the shop had only 100,000 users who only pirated Hollow Knight, Nintendo only would have lost $500,000 in commission fees from the eShop.

Doing some rough estimation through various internet reports, I have an upper and lower bound for both unique users and files downloaded. At the very maximum, 500,000 files were downloaded. This would give us a maximum of thirty million if each of them were AAA priced at 60. However, the lowest bound is 5000, three hundred thousand dollars worth of triple A titles. But not every title is AAA, and not every title is solely Nintendo owned. My best guess is that Nintendo is using the same estimates to set a relatively high price point so that either:

• He's locked into a deal
• OR
• He's forced to reveal the real amount, which could very well be lower or slightly higher than the initial damage value.

So until there's hard evidence in place, it's fair to say Nintendo very well could be going over their bounds to force his hand.

The document already states how they calculated the 4.5M. 150k per copyright infringement for 30 titles. They already state that it's impossible to calculate the real numbers for the amount of games downloaded, so they ask for max amount per infringement.

Even then, they feel that the value is still on the low end for the damage caused.

See page 24-30.

Post automatically merged: Oct 7, 2025

Mods have a lot of soft power so pointing that out is appropriate.

The title implies he's a poor Reddit mod that was sued for 4.5M. It's rage bait engagement to get people to not really discuss the topic and to instead discuss how a poor Reddit mod got sued for 4.5M.

Sure there are details in the post itself, but the author knows the title is what draws people in and how most formulate their opinion. Just reacting to the title and nothing else.

Even the details added are seriously lacking.

 

[Deleted member 535703]

The document already states how they calculated the 4.5M. 150k per copyright infringement for 30 titles. They already state that it's impossible to calculate the real numbers for the amount of games downloaded, so they ask for max amount per infringement.

Even then, they feel that the value is still on the low end for the damage caused.

See page 24-30.

Post automatically merged: Oct 7, 2025

The title implies he's a poor Reddit mod that was sued for 4.5M. It's rage bait engagement to get people to not really discuss the topic and to instead discuss how a poor Reddit mod got sued for 4.5M.

Sure there are details in the post itself, but the author knows the title is what draws people in and how most formulate their opinion. Just reacting to the title and nothing else.

Even the details added are seriously lacking.

It’s not impossible. Any decent website builder makes logs.

 

[LeyendaV]

Simple moral of story: don't host pirated copies of games for free (especially current-gen games). Furthermore, don't ask for donations to do so at that.

Never going to deny that Nintendo is greedy (as is Sony and Microsoft), nor will I deny that I've enjoyed downloading old classic system roms before for free either. But come on, if you really think you can just scrape by with hosting current-gen games for free, while asking for money (sure not demanding it, but asking for it all the same) to do so at the same time without thinking that you're risking serious repercussions, then you are just stupid, play and simple.

Also, don't ignore a cease and desist when you're legally in the wrong.

 

[Bladexdsl]

The guy is just trying to make an honest living.

you have a warped view of HONEST living

 

[hamohamo]

i fail to understand why these people never use VPNs or take precautions especially since they're US citizens.

 

[handy333]

I'm looking forward to the day where there's news of a video game company suing an indie dev for a character that kinda looks like a character from the big corp's "new" game. Only to find out years later that the dev who was fighting for his work was innocent but is already drowning in legal debt.

Always the two perspectives on this:
-The big corp. is right to sue be cause the character did look like theirs. The indie dev is a loser who is actually a criminal and loser. [Can't forget that part.]
-The big corp. needs to be burned down. They're greedy and Nazis. And whatnot.

Of course Nintendo is right and this news is some kind of hate bait where a lot of the guys didn't read the article. But the sa

 

[AndorfRequissa]

i fail to understand why these people never use VPNs or take precautions especially since they're US citizens.

problem is that most services require 2fa nowadays or some linking that you have to create everything together and really have a solid plan to remain anonymous. VPN means nothing if reddit email is tied to email that has phone authentication. most people are not smart enough to think through the phone and 2fa stuff to truly anonymize themselves.

a cell phone = towers and there are many ways to play wheres waldo in todays world to slowly pin the needle on the donkey.

because of the way i comment i have people tell me personal facts that somehow get datamined all the time. some people have already built a culture with doxxing etc where staying anonymous isnt really possible if u are targeted and most people just become afraid to speak or do things because they become targets.

like it or not one of the defining traits of americans are that they are free enough to say no to criminal ideas like patents etc and flex the concept of freedom even if its just a concept and not real. i dont call these people idiots. they usually know they are going to get caught. they just dont care because the world is shit.

im not going to hate on this guy. id rather hate on the shitty world that made it to where nintendo even does stuff like this. corporations have brainwashed many of you.

ill finish my rant with there was a time where people didnt use money as form of transfer. aztec and other communities thrived. were the dog eat dog evil humans. were not the good humans those are extinct for the most part.