A pirate who illegally copied and uploaded the first New Super Mario Bros. Wii game file to the internet has been ordered to pay Nintendo $1.5 million in damages. Gutted.
The file was made available for illegal download worldwide on November 6, 2009, a week ahead of the game's official Australian launch.
The damages payment was awarded by an Australian Federal Court to compensate Nintendo for the loss of sales revenue. Nintendo probably wouldn't have been too bothered without it though: the game was legitimately purchased ten million times globally in just eight weeks.
"Nintendo has been working to combat piracy for approximately 20 years," the platform holder said. "Piracy is a significant threat to Nintendo's business, as well as over 1,400 game development companies working to provide unique and innovative games for the Nintendo platform... The existence of piracy jeopardises the strength of the video game industry overall."
Hurray! Someone has finally done something about a pirates. While its only one case and one I hope it sets a precedence for the future. At the end of the day whether they sell 1 to 10 million copies piracy isn't acceptable. I wonder why thought its taken this long to convict someone though?
If he just uploaded the files and didn't make any money, they are gonna have a hard time getting the money out of him. A couple of quid out of his wages a week?
What's ironic is that if you read up on the details the game was downloaded 1.5m times from his upload so effectively he's only paying $1 per game which mean he actually got off lightly as he could of been paying full retail price per download.
I'm glad he got convicted but the punishment doesn't quite fit the crime in my book. Murderers and rapists pay less compensation. He'll never pay that off - his whole life is basically ruined, for uploading a file to the internet.
What he did was obviously wrong, but that is a ridiculous fine to bear probably for the rest of his life.
Someone who steals from a shop might get a couple of months in prison and a couple of hundred pound fine...But this guys will probably be paying this off until he dies.
Murderers and rapists pay less from with in a prison cell which they'll spend a good 20 years to the rest of their lives in though. In some countries they're executed so that's a horrible comparison as this man is outside free to roam he'll probably pay managable monthly installments from as little as 50 quid or something like everyone else who's in debt.
What's ironic is that if you read up on the details the game was downloaded 1.5m times from his upload so effectively he's only paying $1 per game which mean he actually got off lightly as he could of been paying full retail price per download.
But the 1.5m people who downloaded the game are also thieves. This fella didn't profit from their theft and he didn't force them to steal the game, so it's correct that he's not taking full responsibility for lost revenue on every download.
What's ironic is that if you read up on the details the game was downloaded 1.5m times from his upload so effectively he's only paying $1 per game which mean he actually got off lightly as he could of been paying full retail price per download.
But the 1.5m people who downloaded the game are also thieves. This fella didn't profit from their theft and he didn't force them to steal the game, so it's correct that he's not taking full responsibility for lost revenue on every download.
No he uploaded it knowing full well he shouldn't and provided it for 1.5m people to illegally download it. That in effect makes him accountable for the 1.5m downloads being the supplier, the's a reason why drug dealers and suppliers are given more punishment then users.
They don't always get such a long sentence though Izo, not in the UK at least...
Most of them do and people often cause an outrage at lite sentences.
When I read this story, I must admit that I felt a little sympathy for the guy - it's a huge amount of money to pay back and it seems that he's mostly guilty of being a little bit foolish.
If what we've read is to be believed, he really uploaded it due to peer pressure.
Obviously, this doesn't change the fact that what he did was against the law. You have to think that he is being made an example of here.
The thing I don't understand about things like this is - if you've gone out and spent your own money on a product (legally), why would you then make this available for complete strangers for free?
How can Nintendo say that those are lost sales, the 1.5m people that downloaded it would probably never have bought it anyway.
I don't agree with piracy but as he made no profit from it and there is no way to prove Nintendo lost money as a result of his actions a slap on the wrist would have been more appropriate.
How can Nintendo say that those are lost sales, the 1.5m people that downloaded it would probably never have bought it anyway.
Agree with this. I don't ever pirate games but I sometimes download music, just to find out more about an artist I might be interested in (it's not like we get any proper music on the radio). In some cases I'll then buy the record, in many I won't - but it doesn't count as a lost sale, because I was never going to buy those records. The same might be true of game piracy, I dunno. But I always take those "lost industry revenue" figures for movies, music, games etc with a pinch of salt.
At the end of the day, people only have so much to spend on this kind of thing. Offer them a bit extra for free and they might take it, but it doesn't mean they would've spent money on a game/DVD/Cd if there was no opportunity to pirate it.
Well it was a great test for nintendo to try out their new anti copy protection software. I hear it took the guys 2 days to crack it.
Then again out of those 1.5 mil downloads. Some of them were probably people getting various cracked versions of the game and just wanting to play it early. Its a myth that every download equals a lost sale.
Besides piracy isn't theft. Nothing is actually taken. If anything its an act of forgery.
I do not agree with piracy at all. I have even written a thread about it in the PC forums.
However, this is obscene. They guy uploaded one game and Ninetendo will of course have lost out on some sales but this fine will pretty much ruin this guys life! How is he ever going to have any money.
At least if he went to jail for theft it would be over in a few years at the most. You get a lighter sentance for murder quite frankly!
Firstly, to anyone who thinks rapists 'usually' get 20 years or more - you're sorely mistaken. They're almost always sentenced to less, and then the time they actually serve is often less than that. Murderers sometimes get out within 20 years as well.
The media companies are so terrified of piracy that the way they react is to press for stupidly large fines. It's the same with music piracy - they slap a massive fine on someone once every few months to scare everyone else. This guy will never be able to afford 1.5M, it's just a warning shot from Nintendo.
I'm not defending this guy, everyone knows the law and if you break it, then it doesn't matter what you feel about it, you have to accept the consequences. However, the punishment needs to fit the crime, and in a lot of cases like this, it doesn't. It's only because massive companies use their weight to lean on the law a great deal more than individuals can. It's not about punishment, it's about money and nothing else.
Someone who steals from a shop might get a couple of months in prison and a couple of hundred pound fine...
Scare tactics!!!
Thats some rubbish maths right there. If someone steals from a shop, they are only stealing 1 thing that only 1 person is going to buy and the shop has lost out on 1 sale. An uploaded file will cost Nintendo millions of customers.
-----Next point-----
I also belive that the fine is the correct amount. Although it works out $1 for every download and each retail copy would be around $35, not every download would of been a retail sale. Many people would of downloaded just becuase they could.
-----Final Point-----
I think its right to direct the full focus on people that upload the file in the first place. Going after the end user is a waste of time becuase in just this one case you have 1.5 million people who are guilty. If you go after the uploader in the first place then 1.5 million people couldn't download it in the first place.
-----Actually I do have one more point!-----
Although this is pocket change to Nintendo, and it will ruins this guys life, think about the same studios that have their games stolen and go bankcroupt becuase of it. These little companys can't make huge legal cases like Nintendo can, becuase they don't have the money or power. What Nintendo has done here helps to send shockwaves through the illegal torrent world, and that will benefit both large AND small companys.
I think its right to direct the full focus on people that upload the file in the first place. Going after the end user is a waste of time becuase in just this one case you have 1.5 million people who are guilty. If you go after the uploader in the first place then 1.5 million people couldn't download it in the first place.
Well, no. If you buy stolen goods and you know what you're doing, you're guilty as well. You could just as easily make the argument that all 1.5M knew what they were doing, and if they didn't decide to break the law then no one would have downloaded it, therefor Nintendo wouldn't have lost any profit at all.
Saying that it's hard to punish them is not a good enough reason for lumping the blame entirely on one individual.
I think its right to direct the full focus on people that upload the file in the first place. Going after the end user is a waste of time becuase in just this one case you have 1.5 million people who are guilty. If you go after the uploader in the first place then 1.5 million people couldn't download it in the first place.
Well, no. If you buy stolen goods and you know what you're doing, you're guilty as well. You could just as easily make the argument that all 1.5M knew what they were doing, and if they didn't decide to break the law then no one would have downloaded it, therefor Nintendo wouldn't have lost any profit at all.
Saying that it's hard to punish them is not a good enough reason for lumping the blame entirely on one individual.
Your mental! Yes people knew that they were breaking the law but if the guy had not of uploaded it, people couldn't download it, its that simple. The blame for them downloading it lays with him, he was their supplier so he takes the full responablity for it. End of.
I also belive that the fine is the correct amount. Although it works out $1 for every download and each retail copy would be around $35, not every download would of been a retail sale. Many people would of downloaded just becuase they could.
This seems a little too mechanical, one needs to take into consideration that this could be around a lifetime of wages.( my calculation is 30K over 40 years for the sake of argument).
One man cannot be asked to pay such a fine, even if looks to compensate for 'loses'. I said it in am earlier post- bankrupting an individual is not a just reason to compensate loose change for a company
Edit: i saw your edit. Instead of making an example of him they kind of make him a martyr. There was recently this American student that also got a ludicrous fine and a society set themselves up to raise money for him. He refused the money but the point is that this action only widens the divide between multinational and average humanoid; which in turn may create more piracy not less.
I agree with what you've said but have to point out not only to you but everyone else saying not every download is a retail sale that it will not hold up in the court of law. Why are people downloading it if they have no intent of buying it, Nintendo can easily argue that if someone wants to try it for free before purchase the are plenty of stores they supply with demo stations for people to play in the store or a person can go to their friends to try it out so that's a feeble attempt at best to gain lower punishment. Unless you can prove all 1.5m are legit buyers or weren't going to buy it you're in trouble.
this is completely over the top! i dont think this is a landmark case cause its been done before with exorbitant fines in other cases as well.. but i think they're going about it all wrong as they're obviously never going to recoup any of the money and the vast majority of people who do pirate games aren't going to be affected by this.
Im just shocked at how easy it is to pirate games and yet be surprised by it! I have pirated games, films and music and dont agree that downloading films and music is any different from games. To be fair i started downloading games to be able to get games that arent commercially available anymore but that still makes it wrong in my opinion. On the other hand i agree with the opinion already made about how they arent lost sales because if i hadn't downloaded the game i would not have been given the opportunity to buy it anyway. And im going to avoid the (very valid) argument that a bigger portion of lost sales are attributed to the second hand market rather than piracy.
I believe that it is fairly easy for the authorities to just ban and close down the sites which make these media so easily accessible. People are pretty lazy in their nature and it is only those distinct exceptions that would really go out of their way to pirate if it isnt so easy. At the same time i believe companies dont stop piracy full stop cause the capability of piracy on machines fuels sales and its definately a big reason why people i know have bought wiis and for no other reason then homebrew.
Just my two pence, would appreciate a solid argument in reply for once instead of any blind fan-boy type comments
There seem to be a lot of right-wing reactionary types on here. Seriously what is this fine going to accomplish? This guy obviously isn't the only uploader, if he hadn't done it people would have taken the game from other sources. Few other uploaders are getting caught because it's easy to avoid, so harsh sentences like this are no deterrent anyway. There is nothing gained, this is ruining a man's life for nothing more than a harsh, greedy ideal.
On game piracy in general, I would agree that it could be dangerous for the industry if it got much more common, but it currently poses little or no threat to the publishers and developers. Small devs have much bigger challenges to face in the current market, and for Ninty, EA and the other megacorps lost revenues are a drop in the ocean. People should really consider the realities of the situation before calling for blood.
Your mental! Yes people knew that they were breaking the law but if the guy had not of uploaded it, people couldn't download it, its that simple. The blame for them downloading it lays with him, he was their supplier so he takes the full responablity for it. End of.
I'm mental? What the hell is wrong with you? Using your method, if someone makes a child pornography website, then they should be sent to prison. All the people that look at the images or download them though, well they should get off completely free.
Think about it for a second. You're absolving the public of any morali responsibility - the looting issue already raised is another good analogy. It's ridiculous to try and pin piracy on a scapegoat, which is what is happening in this case.
if you broke a shop window, are you responsible for all who loot through it??
Maybe not, but what if you give someone the keys to the shop? It all depends on your intention. The intention of breaking the window may not be so that other people can loot from the shop, it might just be to break a window. However, uploading a file is for the sole intention of IP theft.
There is always lots of views where piracy are concerned, but the reality is its a crime and wrong. The excuse that people weren't going to buy it anyway is weak, they downloaded it so they must in some way want to play the game so there for it is a lost sale and piracy. For all of us here who buy our games legally know that at some point you buy a game that turns out to be either a bad game or not to our liking. That's called life and you just accept it and move on, return the game if possible or trade it in for discount on another game.
In the case of this guy, had he not uploaded the game to the net then he wouldn't be in the mess he is now, 1.5 million people wouldn't of downloaded it and we wouldn't be posting on this forum about it.
The excuse that people weren't going to buy it anyway is weak, they downloaded it so they must in some way want to play the game so there for it is a lost sale and piracy.
bollocks.
you are always going to grab more stuff if it is free, even if you werent really interested in it as a purchase.
The excuse that people weren't going to buy it anyway is weak, they downloaded it so they must in some way want to play the game so there for it is a lost sale and piracy.
bollocks.
you are always going to grab more stuff if it is free, even if you werent really interested in it as a purchase.
So if you're a bloke you're going to grab as many tampons as possible if they were free, if you're Atheist you're going to grab the bible if it was offered for free? You see why this argument can't fly in a court now.
Yeah I'm sure he's got a spare million lying around. In GBP its around Ł831,000 which is still a little bit more than the standard Ł320,000 you'd expect to pay in the UK for mass distribution (based on the $500,000 USD fine common in this case).
I know pirating is illegal, the source being the primary issue but wouldn't it make more sense to make the fines more widespread? If I was head of some Counter Theft division I'd set traps for the underlings by posing games and then recording their IP's, then send a convincing e-mail to deter them from downloading. Repeat offenders then should be dealt with fines.
I also have a theory that needs looking into. If a game has a widely available demo before release, do more people or less people pirate the game?
that was an exclamation you fag. not the arguement - the bit you failed to quote. since you cant muster up a decent arguement yourself.
and Izo - that arguement was even worse.
I'll think find I did have a good argument its just I used that thing called tact. you fag Just further proves the point you don't have the intellect to use proper words and result to pointless insults
The way I see it piracy of games is theft for one simple reason you are getting something for free or at a cut down price where otherwise you would have to pay for it.
I love this idiots who comment here that piracy is a crime that should be paid with jail and be punished more that murderers and other criminals.
I agree that jail time is a bit extreme but a fine is the best suited punishment but the 1.5M fine in this case is way too much. What punishment would you suggest then?
Anyway if it was me that got a fine of that size it would give me a big kick up the backside to one not do it in the future and find a quick route to earning a million quid
Your mental! Yes people knew that they were breaking the law but if the guy had not of uploaded it, people couldn't download it, its that simple. The blame for them downloading it lays with him, he was their supplier so he takes the full responablity for it. End of.
I'm mental? What the hell is wrong with you? Using your method, if someone makes a child pornography website, then they should be sent to prison. All the people that look at the images or download them though, well they should get off completely free.
Think about it for a second. You're absolving the public of any morali responsibility - the looting issue already raised is another good analogy. It's ridiculous to try and pin piracy on a scapegoat, which is what is happening in this case.
Your method is unworkable though, that's why your mental. Its impossible to go after all the people who downloaded the game so its a total waste of time and it won't actually get anything done. What is the point in chasing a few people that downloaded the game? You can't sue them for much money. Its not going to make much of a point either. If only 5 in 1.5million people get in trouble for an illegal download then people will see that as not even being a risk, so by suing the end user you get nothing done. You go after the source of the problem because you can stop there even becoming an end user in the first place. Also a huge fine like that will make others think twice before creating an upload. The amount of uploaders for a single product can be counted on two hands, its very possible to go after them all. I don't disagree that people shouldn't download it in the first place but going after the end user achieves nothing at all.
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