Pokemon Sword and Shield strategy guide leakers will have to pay $150,000 in damages

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After being accused of causing "irreparable injury" to The Pokemon Company, by leaking pictures of a Pokemon Sword and Shield strategy guide prior to release, two defendants have been ordered to pay for damages and legal fee costs to TPCI, following a recently settled lawsuit. Bryan Cruz and David Maisonave, the two defendants, were responsible for taking pictures of a Pokemon guidebook, which featured images of at-the-time unrevealed Pokemon featured in the upcoming Pokemon Sword and Shield games. One of them had worked at a company responsible for creating the strategy guide, and The Pokemon Company International team's lawyers accused the employee of stealing trade secrets and distributing them over Discord.

The incident occurred in late 2019, with the lawsuit initially filed in November of that same year. Now, the case has been settled, and according to the presiding judge, the verdict can not be appealed; both Maisonave and Cruz will have to pay $150,000 to The Pokemon Company International.

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Jiehfeng

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nintendo yet again trying to make money by suing people, how the fuck does leaking photos of a guide or pokemon cause damages, if anything its advance promotion thats free.

The way I see it is they think that those reveals would be sort of like spoilers and ruin the experience for the players who would otherwise have clean first hand impressions. They might think that such reveals would change players impressions of the game, cause some to not buy the game due to disappointing new Pokemon, that kind of stuff.
 
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Valwinz

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not sure why the game even needs a guide the game is so easy and literally play it self

the big issue here was that thanks to the leakers people knew they cut a lot of pokemon as Nintendo was been vague about to trick people

The damage is that Nintendo could not scam more people
 

Reynardine

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Nintendo's dead serious about this stuff. I can't imagine that the leak harmed them much financially.

On the other hand, the leakers broke the terms and conditions of their employment contracts. They knew full well that this could happen. What a reckless publicity stunt, what does one gain from leaking info about an upcoming game?
 

gamer765

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"excessive damages" in that it was revealed a lot of Pokemon were cut from the game and i believe also the artstyle of the game/Pokemon caused controversy. This led to many people boycotting the games, i guess. So might've contributed to less than expected week/day 1 sales. A lot of companies use these statistics to measure a products success.
 
Last edited by gamer765,

Taleweaver

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150'000 bucks for a few pictures of a guide that gets released somewhat later, and it's called "irrepairable damage"? Like...seriously? How the fuck did THAT happen? :glare:

*back in an alternative 2019 reality*

Management: Guys...I've got some interesting news.
Director: what is it?
Management: some kids managed to get a sneak peak of our upcoming sword & shield guide.
Director: oh, no. How many copies did they steal?
Management: none. They just took a few photos and posted them online.
Director: oh...okay?
Management: yup. And it's going viral right now. Everyone and their mom knows we're about to publish a guide.
Director: so...they're doing free marketing work? :)
Management: damn right! More so: free AND efficient! :D
Director: this calls for champagne! :D


Oops...my bad. I accidentally forgot we're talking about nintendo. In reality, it was more likely something like this...

*back in 2019, in this reality*

Management: I have horrible news! Horrible!
Director: what? what? Is the building on fire?
Management: I wish! much worse!!!
Director: Godzilla is real and is trampling over our offices!
Management: WAY worse!
Director: oh no...someone's using our IP without our consent again, is it? Is it? *on the verge of tears*
Management: well...no. But it's potentially worse. See, remember the pokemon sword and shield guide that'll be revealed in a couple weeks?
Director: NO! Erm...I mean: yes. But...is it being...SOLD? Without our explicit permission??? :blink:
Management: WORSE! Someone is FREELY sharing pictures of this guide!
Director: NO! NO!!! NOOOOOOOOO!!!!
Management: ...and it's going viral!
Director: NOOOOOOOOO!!!!! *attempts to claws eyes out*
Management: ...and one of the pics shows a yet unrevealed pokemon!

Director: *AAARGGGHHHLLLL*
tenor.gif

Management: damn...another director gone. Better press charges against these punks to recoup our losses...



True story. Take it from me: THAT's why they're suing everyone. :creep:
 
Last edited by Taleweaver,

codezer0

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That Nintendo went this far, to prosecute a couple of individuals, is irreproachable. We've been getting core game leaks since almost the beginning. That Gen 8 is objectively the worst handled iteration of the series doesn't help matters, either.

If any thing, since Nintendo is showing that they'd rather litigate than make a product actually worth buying, it just means that there is even less reason to support this kind of behavior.
 
Last edited by codezer0, , Reason: Spelling typo fix(es)

Nuzzgok

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One of them had worked at a company responsible for creating the strategy guide

This is likely why this happened, there would be no crime otherwise. As far as the law goes they probably have good ground to stand on when it comes to breaching confidentiality.
 

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