Nintendo's battle against piracy involving the Switch and its games continues. The company recently filed another lawsuit against an individual allegedly involved in operating several stores that distributed hybrid console games illegally.
What’s interesting is that the case documents reveal the methods the company sometimes employs to identify, locate, and sue individuals. The lawsuit targets James “Archbox” Williams, a resident of Arizona, USA, who was identified through various messages he posted on Reddit.
Additionally, it was revealed that the man used Nintendo’s repair services, which provided the company with several pieces of his personal information. The creators of Mario filed a lawsuit against him for copyright violations and are seeking compensation for damages.
How Nintendo tracked down a Switch pirate
According to the details, Nintendo hired the law firm Mitchell Silberberg & Knupp to locate a mysterious Switch pirate. Their investigation focused on several illegal game shops for the hybrid console, eventually leading to the name Archbox.
Detectives found a Reddit user with that name who moderated a forum dedicated to Switch piracy. Through his posts on Reddit, they identified the individual as James Williams, residing in Arizona.
Unfortunately for him, his name was linked to several email accounts that had requested repairs from Nintendo’s official service. The company sent him one of the repaired items and, two days later, issued him a cease-and-desist order for his involvement in pirated shops.
The lawsuit claims the man was involved in running at least three stores, which were shut down following Nintendo’s warning. The company then sued him to seek damages, accusing him of moderating a piracy forum with 190,000 members and promoting Switch piracy since 2019.
“Defendant’s posts have included, by way of example, messages directing users to the Pirate Shops […]; and offering technical advice and encouragement to other users about how to use the Pirate Shops, how to download and install Circumvention Software, and how to play pirated copies of Nintendo Switch games.”
Nintendo won't stop its lawsuits related to piracy
Nintendo recently updated its content guidelines to clarify that it will now penalize any type of content that includes pirated or unpublished material. Shortly after, the company sued a streamer who pirated Switch games and played them live before their release.
The defendant received warnings from the company but ignored them, claiming he could play illegal titles “all day.” Now, he will face authorities and pay approximately $7.5 million in damages.
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