If you thought the arrest of some of Team Xecuter's group would be the end of things for the two sides, you'd be wrong. It's Bowser VS Bowser, as Nintendo of America--and by extension Doug Bowser, has filed a lawsuit against TX's Gary Bowser. Gary Bowser was arrested last year alongside cohort Max Louarn, with the former having been extradited to the United States, and the latter still in custody in Canada, facing extradition as well. Bowser was already dealing with 11 counts of felony charges, and now this new lawsuit, filed in NOA's home turf of Washington State, adds to his list of problems.

Nintendo alleges that he trafficked piracy devices in the form of SX, and also infringed upon the company's trademarks. As a result, the house of Super Mario is seeking compensation, to the tune of $150,000, as well as charges of $2,500 per "willful violation". Depending on how things go in court, Nintendo may even try to go after a cut of sales profit that Bowser got from selling SX chips. The full, lengthy legal diatribe is available below, courtesy of Polygon.

Source

 

[ChibiMofo]

Let's see. Common criminals making a living by stealing others work versus a company that has given me a lifetime of enjoyment and seminal games.
Oh yeah, it's tough to know who to root for here.

 

[HenryTee]

just like MJ say, this is it..the end of era.

 

[Kioku]

While old e-shops and such get shut down, it can't be done. That justifies having a personal backup all on its own. Backups are not a grey area. They are legal. If they are YOUR backups, anyway. Section 117 of the Copyright Act covers such things. Some places outside of the US are even less restrictive on this matter.

Personal Backups themselves are legal, sure. Doesn't mean the whole concept surrounding them isn't a legal gray area when it comes to corporations and their persecution. I sincerely doubt that everyone here, or anyone here really, can prove their "backups" are ones they personally made.

 

[DoubleDate]

I cant understand why people are jumping on the "Homebrew" bandwagon and using the sole fair use of "Backups" I mean if you bought your game and have a cartridge to play why bother to "Backup"? Just be fair to yourselfs, admit that pirating is a thing, dont trow it on the but but muh Homebrew or muh backups. Nintendo is just doing what is fair to them. People are mad at Nintendo for defending whats theirs. Its like you go to a car dealer, you take the car that you want and leave the store, and when they send the police to your home you get angry because you demanded to have it at all any cost without giving any penny, or that you go to the grocery store, you grab a can of soda and leave without paying. Everything has consequences. Game companies are not working hours and pouring money into a project for people just to steal it.

 

[pofehof]

While old e-shops and such get shut down, it can't be done. That justifies having a personal backup all on its own. Backups are not a grey area. They are legal. If they are YOUR backups, anyway. Section 117 of the Copyright Act covers such things. Some places outside of the US are even less restrictive on this matter.

This video actually explains why Section 117 doesn't completely cover backups (skip to 4:19 if it doesn't automatically do that):



Where other sections of the chapter have been used against the DoctorV64 in court. DMCA in 2003 helped us being allowing us to bypass security for backup purposes, but it seems that expired in 2010. This is why until there is another court case where Nintendo (or another company) goes after someone who solely dumped games, this is a legal gray area.

 

[xs4all]

Saying it here first, this is a ploy to pave way for a new Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney game.

You guessed it, Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney - Bowser Vs Bowser

 

[TheZander]

It's easy to see where these guys made their mistake. Back in the day there was this message you could tag to the description of whatever hacky device you were selling.

I'm not sure if i should be giving this away but if they had said "We do not condone the use of piracy with our device" the courts would have nothing on them. Since they didn't explicitly state they do not condone it they were done for.

Also community engagement was abysmal over there. Probably doesn't have anything to do with Nintendo pressing charges but it was a forum that went dormant in 2008 that got a paper mario skin.

I don't know if there are any other sure fire law loop holes you can use at this point. There is a slight chance they could make use of the Galaga defense but you'd have to make a very comprehensive correlation between coin door glitching and switch modchip.

 

[MikaDubbz]

What did they do that lost Nintendo a provable amount of money? How are the "lOsT SAleS" calculated?

A crime is a crime is a crime. Whether there are victims or not doesn't make it any more or less excusable.

 

[Kioku]

What did they do that lost Nintendo a provable amount of money? How are the "lOsT SAleS" calculated?

Do you really get to gatekeep crimes now? They broke the law, regardless of how you personally feel about the subject.

 

[mangaTom]

I know I might sound like a broken record but I wish Nintendo was this active regarding the joycon drift. If they can shell out tons of money in court cases, surely they can sell better joysticks right?

 

[ShadowOne333]

I know I might sound like a broken record but I wish Nintendo was this active regarding the joycon drift. If they can shell out tons of money in court cases, surely they can sell better joysticks right?

If they put half of this effort into a proper online structure, a legal ROM shop ala Steam of all their back catalog and actually listen to fan demands now and then instead of being the pedantic assholes they are, a whole other story this would be.

 

[Bladexdsl]

so bowsers first name is GARY huh. just as marios first name is mario

 

[PiracyForTheMasses]

Not sure why USA is even getting involved when Nintendo is a Japanese owned business. Nintendo of America is a Japanese owned business. Japan needs to take legal action, not USA. USA resources need not go to such stupid foreign problems.

 

[Ethelmord]

They may have won a battle against Piracy but they'll never win the war.

 

[Purple_Shyguy]

So about that TXOS update.......

 

[shanefromoz]

Nintendo will never stop Team Executer.
They are in China and hidden far from Nintendos reach

 

[Bladexdsl]

 

[mr allen]

Do you really get to gatekeep crimes now? They broke the law, regardless of how you personally feel about the subject.

That's how civil suits work, yes. You don't get any amount of money because X law was broken, you need to show how much money was actually lost.

 

[I_AM_L_FORCE]

By that logic, every BestBuy and Gamestop is on the payroll of Sony, Nintendo, etc. Every Youtuber with monetized ads, is on the payroll of whatever company made the ads. No, sir. They get paid by clicks. Same as Gary. He never (to my knowledge) owned any stock or sold actual product. He spammed news and links to where you could buy it.

To that end, you're telling me a reporter for CNN or the BBC doesn't work for CNN/BBC? Give me a break.

 

[Foxi4]

To that end, you're telling me a reporter for CNN or the BBC doesn't work for CNN/BBC? Give me a break.

In all fairness, the concept of an independent contractor isn't an alien one. You can run PR on behalf of a company and be paid for said service, but not be a part of the PR department. If you want a more news-related analogy, news organisations hire writers all the time - they're often hired to write specific pieces and that's that. They're not permanent employees and they're not part of the company structure, nor do they "own" any part of it.