Tag: Legal
News Nintendo Updates Its User Agreement To Crack Down On Emulation
Offenders may find their Switch bricked
Nintendo has recently updated its Account User Agreement to provide a more severe warning to those who "bypass, modify, decrypt, defeat" or "tamper with" their games. In short, if you happen to hack your Switch or run emulators, you may find that it winds up getting bricked entirely. This comes via Stephen...
News Palworld Dev Announces "Disappointing" Game Changes Resulting From Nintendo's Lawsuit
"We have had to make certain compromises"
Late last year, Palworld developer Pocketpair announced that it was scrapping the Poké Ball-like summoning mechanic from its game as a result of its ongoing Nintendo lawsuit. Well, it looks like the changes aren't stopping there, as the dev has today announced that more "disappointing" changes are yet to...
News Accessory Manufacturer Genki Responds To Nintendo's Switch 2 Lawsuit
Focus remains on "building gear for gamers
Last weekend, Nintendo formally opened a lawsuit against accessory manufacturer Genki following the Switch 2 "leak" at this year's CES. We saw Nintendo's side of the story in the initial court documents, and now, Genki has released a statement confirming that the team is "taking it seriously and working...
News Nintendo Seeks Injunction And $17,500 In Damages From 'Pirate' Streamer
Defendant has so far evaded complaints
Back in November 2024, we covered a case in which Nintendo of America had filed a lawsuit against an individual who had "repeatedly streamed pirated and emulated" Switch games while also using social media to promote Switch emulators to the general public. Now, after defendant Jesse Keighin – known under the...
News What's Palworld Dev's Defence Against Nintendo's Lawsuit? Pikmin 3, Apparently
Amongst other games, of course
Palworld dev Pocketpair is currently locked in a legal battle with Nintendo and The Pokémon Company over alleged patent infringement. Now, as detailed by Games Fray (thanks, VGC), we have a vague idea of how Pocketpair might be looking to
News Japan's First Switch Modder Court Ruling Ends With A Fraction Of Nintendo's Full Wrath
It's fine time
It's not unusual to see Nintendo track down anyone who messes with its products — be that through mods, emulation, or copyright issues — but the outcome of a recent Japanese court ruling feels like a comparative slapped wrist when compared to some of the wrath we've seen from The House of Mario in the past (thanks for the heads...
News Inside Dev Threatens Legal Action Against Studio Co-Founder As "Bullying" Allegations Arise
"I will not stop being who I am"
Playdead, the studio behind indie hits Limbo and Inside, has demanded compensation and reimbursement from studio co-founder Dino Patti on claims of copyright infringement — an act that Patti describes as "bullying" from fellow co-founder Arnt Jensen (thanks for the heads up, Game Developer). The pair split shortly...
News Nintendo Awarded $7 Million In Win Against Counterfeit amiibo Sellers
Waahahaha!
As you might recall, Nintendo and Amazon filed a lawsuit against sellers of alleged fake products including counterfeit amiibo. In an update, Nintendo has officially won - with Seattle district judge Marsha J. Pechman awarding the video game giant approximately $7,030,158 million as a default judgment against the two sellers (thanks,...
News Nintendo's Lawsuit Win Against Major French Sharehoster Is Now Final
"Nintendo is pleased with the Court’s finding"
Nintendo has announced that the French judiciary Court has ruled that DSTORAGE SAS, who operates the sharehoster website '1fichier', is liable for failing to remove or block pirated games from the platform. Although the Paris Court of Appeals had previously ruled in favour of Nintendo in 2023, this...
News The Pokémon Company Catches A Win In Lawsuit Against Another Rip-Off App
Watch out, Palworld
While the Palworld case continues to tick away in the background, The Pokémon Company has recently won another lawsuit against a Chinese mobile app on the grounds of copyright infringement and acts of unfair competition (thanks, Eurogamer). TPC's case against 'Pocket Monster: Remake' (or, sometimes, 'Pocket Monster:...
News Nintendo's Palworld Lawsuit Might Go International As New Patents Land U.S. Approval
Update: Attorney weighs in on Nintendo's mostly-rejected patent
We have been following Nintendo's Palworld lawsuit for the best part of six months now, and while we have grown to have a better understanding of the particular patents involved, all of the infringement claims have been tied to Japan. However, in recent months, it seems that Nintendo...
Random Local Supermarket Wins Trademark Battle Against Nintendo
It didn't expect to beat "such a commercial monster"
Nintendo has legally pursued all sorts of companies and projects over the years, and it often gets its desired outcome. However, it's not gone the same way in a recent trademark battle against a family-owned Costa Rican "super" market. 'Super Mario', which is located in San Ramón (and does not...
News Nintendo Lawyer Breaks Down What Makes An Emulator Illegal
Emulation explanation
2024 was a big year for Nintendo's emulator takedowns, with the likes of Yuzu and Ryujinx both biting the dust after facing the company's wrath. Now, at a recent lecture hosted by Japan’s Association of Copyright for Computer Software, Nintendo lawyer Koji Nishiura has explained the technicalities of when an emulator is...
News Square Enix May Withhold Its Own Products If You Harrass Its Staff
So just don't, y'know?
Square Enix has updated its 'Group Customer Harrassment Policy' to ensure that its employees and partners remain protected against unwelcome nuisance and threats from certain customers. As detailed on its official website (thanks, GamesIndustry), the firm stated that if it deems an individual has indeed harassed its...
News Crush 40 Musician Is Suing Sega Over Sonic Adventure 2 Theme, 'Live And Learn'
Never too late, eh?
Johnny Gioeli, the Crush 40 musician and singer behind the iconic Sonic Adventure 2 track 'Live and Learn', is suing SEGA of America over breach of contract for the song's repeated use throughout the Sonic series (thanks, Polygon). According to Gioeli's lawsuit (via Polygon), filed to the District Court of S
News Palworld Developer Pocketpair Changes Pokémon-Like Summoning Mechanic
Nintendo's lawsuit claims it "infringes multiple patent rights"
Nintendo and The Pokémon Company filed a patent infringement lawsuit against the Palworld developer Pocketpair in September of this year. In a notable development, Pocketpair has now released an update for Palworld which changes the Pokémon-like throwing mechanic in the game. As...
News Nintendo Reportedly Seeking "New Targets" In Switch Piracy Investigation
Sailing the high seas
Following Nintendo's recent investigation into the Switch "pirate" James 'Archbox' Williams, the video game giant is now reportedly seeking "new targets". As highlighted by Stephen Totilo of Game File, the company doesn't appear to be done with the SwitchPirates subreddit just yet: "Nintendo of America (NOA) said its...
News Palworld Dev May Have Found An Unexpected Ally In Nintendo's Lawsuit: An Old GTA 5 Mod
Trevorlution
Earlier this month, Palworld developer PocketPair detailed the patent infringement claims that make up Nintendo's ongoing lawsuit. The case itself is still underway, with both parties building their arguments, but a new prediction from a Japanese patent attorney suggests that PocketPair may be finding support in the most unlikely of...
News New Switch Emulator Devs Are Jumping Through Hoops To Avoid A Nintendo Takedown
Ninjas in 3... 2... 1...
Earlier this year, the Switch emulator Yuzu was shut down after being caught in the fiery gaze of the great eye of Nintendo. A follow-up based on the same source code, Suyu, appeared shortly after, though it unsurprisingly met the same fate. Now, over eight months on, there's another new kid on the block (thanks,
News Nintendo Is Handed Another Lawsuit Win After Accused Switch "Pirate" Fails To Plead
Dub by default
Back in July, Nintendo dished out a handful of lawsuits in its continued clampdown on Switch piracy. Four months on, one of these legal claims has come back as another win for Nintendo after the defendant failed to plead or otherwise respond within the court's given time. The case in question was against James 'Archbox' Williams, the...
News Nintendo Has Seemingly Taken Possession Of The Ryujinx Switch Emulator Website
After being taken offline last month
Last month, Switch emulator Ryujinx was forced offline after Nintendo contacted its owner to arrange its removal. While there were rumblings that the emulator might not be completely dead a few weeks back, it seems that Nintendo has now taken official ownership of the website, presumably to stop anything from...
News Nintendo's Lawsuit Against Palworld Is "A Clear Case Of Bullying", Says Analyst
The drama continues
Patent analyst Florian Mueller has released an extensive examination into the lawsuit filed against Palworld developer Pocketpair from Nintendo. In it, he describes Nintendo's actions as "a clear case of bullying" against Pocketpair, citing the former's status as a "far older and larger company" with "extensive experience in...
“On at least fifty occasions in the last two years"
Nintendo has filed a lawsuit against an individual who apparently "repeatedly streamed pirated and emulated" Switch games while also promoting "Switch emulators and other piracy tools" to his audience. As highlighted by 404 Media, Jesse Keighin (known online as 'EveryGameGuru') reportedly "got...
News Palworld Developer Details Patent Infringement Claims From Nintendo's Lawsuit
Nintendo and TPC seek 10m Yen in damages
News on Nintendo and The Pokémon Company's lawsuit against Palworld developer Pocketpair had gone quiet over the past few weeks, but a new statement from the latter studio has shed some more light on the complaint — specifically, the patents Nintendo claims have been infringed upon and the prescribed fine...
News Switch Emulator Ryujinx Might Not Be Dead, Despite Nintendo's Takedown
We assume the ninjas are ready and waiting
Earlier this month, the creators of Switch emulator Ryujinx announced that the project would be taken offline after being "offered an agreement by Nintendo". Yet now, four weeks on, it looks like the open-source emulator might not be totally dead (thanks, Overkill). Over the weekend, a new update was...
News SEGA Seeks 1 Billion Yen In Damages From Developer Of Mobile RPG 'Memento Mori'
Allegations of patent infringement
Bank of Innovation — the Japanese developer behind the idle mobile RPG Memento Mori — has received a lawsuit from Sega Corporation, which seeks damages for multiple alleged patent infringements. As reported by Gamesindustry.biz (via the Otaku Research Institute), Sega — obviously most famous for Sonic the...
News Nintendo's Latest Job Listing Is On The Hunt For An Intellectual Property Lawyer
Objection!
Nintendo of America is on the lookout for a new intellectual property lawyer to join its legal department (thanks, My Nintendo News). The new job listing shared on Nintendo's career site states that the role will include managing Nintendo's "patent, trademark, and copyright portfolios," advising the business team on IP issues and working...
News Pour One Out For The Modchip Seller Facing Nintendo In Court Alone
Hounds, released
Back in July, Nintendo filed a lawsuit against Modded Hardware — an online store which, as you might expect, sells modded Switch consoles and chips — in its continued attempt to clamp down on piracy. Three months on, the alleged owner of the store, Ryan Daly, has filed his answer to the complaints where he denies any wrongdoing...
News Nintendo Patents Filed After Palworld's Release Suggest Lawsuit Prep Started Months Ago
Pika your battles
Last week, Nintendo and The Pokémon Company announced that they were filing a patent infringement lawsuit against Palworld developer Pocketpair. While the latter studio claimed it was "unaware of the specific patents we are accused of infringing upon," online speculation soon began to throw out various plausible-sounding submis
News Californian Law Dictates Storefronts Be Honest About Digital Game Ownership
A license to kill your purchase
A new Californian law will come into effect in 2025 that will effectively force digital storefronts to disclose that buyers don't actually own their digital puchases, but rather simply licensing the content. Naturally, we suspect that most of our audience will already be aware of this, but it's entirely possible that...
News Palworld's Japan Release On PS5 Delayed As Nintendo's Lawsuit Looms
Hold yer horses, pal
If you managed to catch Sony's latest State of Play broadcast, then you'll know that Pocketpair's Palworld has scored a shadow drop release on PS5. At least, in some countries, that is. Y'see, the game's launch has been indefinitely delayed in Japan. As detailed in a social media post from the Japanese Palworld account, its...
News Analyst Is Certain Nintendo Will Win Its Lawsuit Against Palworld Developer
"Nintendo took its time to really build the case"
While everyone is patiently awaiting news from Nintendo regarding its upcoming Switch successor, the company made another, undoubtedly more surprising, announcement. Months after Palworld's release, Nintendo has now filed a patent lawsuit against developer Pocketpair, claiming that Palworld...
News Palworld Developer Responds To Nintendo Lawsuit
"we will do our utmost for our fans"
Following the announcement of a patent lawsuit filed against Palworld developer Pocketpair from Nintendo and The Pokémon Company, the former has now released a statement responding to the complaint. The lawsuit from Nintendo and The Pokémon Company mentions that Palworld "infringes multiple patent rights",...
News AI Generator Scraped YouTube Videos Without Permission, Including Nintendo's
Uh oh...
Runway, the multi-billion dollar company claiming to 'move creativity forward' with artificial intelligence (yuck!) has reportedly trained its text-to-video generator by scraping thousands of videos from YouTube, potentially including several of Nintendo's channels. As discovered and reported by 404 Media, the information comes via a...
News Nintendo Live Threat Culprit Sentenced To One Year In Prison
All because he kept losing at Splatoon 3
The man charged with sending threats to Nintendo, leading to the cancellation of Tokyo's Nintendo Live event earlier this year, has been sentenced to one year in prison following a court ruling (thanks, Splatoon Torikara & Nintendo Everything). The 27-year-old individual admitted to his crimes last...
News Red Art Games Has Fallen Victim To A Significant Cyberattack
Multiple customer details compromised
Red Art Games has announced that it has fallen victim to a significant cyberattack in which multiple customer details have been compromised. The company confirms that all bank details are safe, but details including email addresses and shipping addresses have been affected. It has also confirmed that shipments,...
News Sega Takes Legal Action Against Social Media User For Harassment Toward Employee
Good on you, Sega
Sega has announced that it has taken legal action against an individual committing consistent harassment against one of its employees (thanks, Automaton). In a post on its Japanese corporate site, Sega explained that it had been in contact with the individual in question for some time, but after the harassment had not improved,...
Random Zelda Fan Jailed For Carrying Small Master Sword Replica
"It is possible to find fidget toys that aren't six-inch blades"
In The Legend of Zelda franchise, finding and carrying the legendary Master Sword is perhaps one of the most important tasks you'll need to accomplish to defeat evil and save the land of Hyrule. For one individual, however, carrying a replica Master Sword around in real life has led to...
News Nintendo Files Two New Lawsuits In Continued Clamp Down On Switch Piracy
The quest continues
Nintendo is continuing to clamp down on Switch piracy this week by filing two brand-new lawsuits (thanks, TorrentFreak). The first of these targets Modded Hardware, a group that has been on Nintendo's radar for a few months now — and with a name like that, you can imagine why. Run by Ryan Daly (aka "Hombrew Homie", apparently)...
News Nintendo Live Suspect Admits To Threats, Blames Being A Sore Loser
"When I kept losing, I became increasingly frustrated"
The suspect accused of sending threats to Nintendo and attending audiences during the now-cancelled Nintendo Live event in Tokyo earlier this year has now admitted to the charges (thanks, Splatoon Torikara). What's more, when explaining the motive behind his threats, the 27-year-old indiv
News Nintendo Files DMCA Against Fan-Made 'Rhythm Heaven' Remix Software
Wubbadubbadub izzat true?
Nintendo has filed a DMCA takedown against fan-made software 'Heaven Studio', a tool which enabled people to upload their own music and pair it with one of the rhythm-based minigames from the Rhythm Heaven series. As reported by TorrentFreak (thanks, VGC), the Heaven Studio GitHub repository has been removed following...
Random Welp, Now Nintendo's Going After Sheet Music
DMCA'd
It should come as no surprise that Nintendo is pretty protective regarding its IP. Going after emulators, ROM hacks, and reproductions is one thing, but it looks like the firm is starting to aim its sights on something rather surprising: sheet music. According to two separate community posts on YouTube, it seems like Nintendo is looking to...
News Nintendo Issues Multiple DMCAs On The Modding Site 'GameBanana'
Smash Bros. Ultimate and Zelda: TOTK targeted
Nintendo has seemingly issued multiple DMCA takedowns against mods hosted on the community site GameBanana. As member 'Waikuteru' highlighted, more than 60 separate DMCA takedowns have been issued over just a few days with 40 directed at them specifically, rendering their GameBanana profile empty of mod...
News Nintendo Hacker Gary Bowser Says Conviction Was "A Blessing"
"Life is path of choices, I made the wrong one"
Gary Bowser, the infamous figure who was convicted for his role with Team Xecuter in facilitating piracy of Nintendo games, has recently spoken to UNILAD to state that he sees his arrest and subsequent conviction as "a blessing". Alongside serving 14 of his 30-month prison sentence, Bowser was...
News Switch "Joy-Con Drift" Class Action Lawsuit Dismissed After Five Years
Five years of effort ended "with a whimper"
Throughout the lifespan of the Nintendo Switch, there has been all sorts of controversy surrounding Joy-Con controller drift. As the generation winds down, it looks like "5 years of efforts" to sue Nintendo over "Joy-Con drift" issues have now come to an end. As highlighted by Game File reporter Stephen...
News Creators Of New Switch Emulator 'Suyu' Hope To Avoid Nintendo's Wrath
"Suyu currently exists in a legal gray area"
Earlier this month, the Switch emulator Yuzu was shut down in response to a legal push from Nintendo. It wasn't all that surprising given the Big-N's historic protection of its properties and disapproval of unsanctioned emulation, and equally unsurprising is that a new Switch emulator is already stepping...
Reaction Nintendo's Switch Emulator Fallout Is Shocking Only Because It Took This Long
Emulator action
Well, that was quick... But also slow. That Nintendo would take action against programs that circumvent security and open up obvious avenues to playing Switch games without having purchased them is entirely unsurprising given the platform holder's historic 'emulation is piracy' stance. But the speed with which Tropic Haze, the...
News Switch Emulator Yuzu To Pay $2.4 Million To Nintendo & Cease Development
3DS emulator Citra to also shut down
Tropic Haze, the creators of the Switch emulator Yuzu, have agreed to pay Nintendo USD $2.4 million in damages as well as shut down the emulator for the hybrid console, along with the 3DS emulator Citra. This news comes just a week after Nintendo filed a lawsuit against the creators, and around a day after Tropic...
News Nintendo Sets Its Sights On Switch Emulator Yuzu In New Lawsuit
It wants "a shutdown of the emulator"
Nintendo has always had an incredibly strong stance against video game piracy and it's now taking legal action against the creators of the Switch emulator Yuzu. As highlighted by Stephen Totilo of Game File, the Japanese video game giant known for hits like Super Mario and
News Hacker Gary Bowser Discusses Post-Jail Life And Chipping Away At Nintendo's $14m
"I’ll pay them what I can"
Notorious figure Gary Bowser, who was convicted in 2022 for his role in criminal activity involving piracy of Nintendo games, has talked about his current circumstances, including struggles to pay electric and medical bills in the time since his early release from prison. Speaking to Patricia Hernandez for The Guardian,...
