Mario isn’t free
Nintendo has recently filed lawsuits against two popular ROM websites. LoveRETRO and LoveROMs are under legal pressure to remove all Nintendo titles from its servers and pay statutory damages of around $150,000 per Nintendo title along with $2,000,000 for each trademark infringement. LoveROMs has already removed all Nintendo titles from its servers, but LoveRETRO has shut down for the forseeable future.
The reason for targeting these two sites is stated in the suit that Nintendo filed. It reads, “The LoveROMs website alone receives 17 million visitors each month. Such visitors are drawn to the website by the widespread availability of free, unauthorized copies of Nintendo’s video games and other highly valuable intellectual property. The resulting popularity of Defendants’ LoveROMs and LoveRETRO websites has allowed Defendants to reap substantial ill-gotten gains, including through donations and the sale of advertising on the LoveROMs and LoveRETRO websites.”
In Nintendo’s longstanding battle against ROMs and emulators, the company has issued lawsuits to many websites and creators for infringing on copyrights and for the illegal distribution of protected properties. You don’t mess with the Big N and emulation of its titles, not even when they sell you an illegal ROM of Super Mario Bros.
Nintendo files lawsuit against emulator sites [PC Gamer]
Nintendo of America V Jacob Mathias and Mathias Designs [TorrentFreak]
