Nintendo's lawsuit bonanza is continuing, with streamer EveryGameGuru being targeted for being a'recidivist pirate' who has obtained and Streamed Nintendo's Leaked Games on Multiple Occasions.
Nintendo's lawyers are still earning their money. Most recently, they filed a lawsuit against Jesse Keighin (AKA EveryGameGuru) for streaming Nintendo games such as The Legend of Zelda: Echoes of Wisdom, Mario & Luigi: Brothership, and allegedly linking to ROM websites and emulators.
According to the colorful filing, via 404 Media: "Defendant has been a recidivist pirat who has obtained and Streamed Nintendo's leaks on multiple occasions."
Nintendo has previously used copyright notices to remove EveryGameGuru footage. The filing notes that the footage "often consists of him playing Nintendo leaked games for extended periods without commentary." Nintendo claims that he streamed Mario & Luigi: Brothership sixteen days before its release, Super Mario Party Jamboree, six days before its release, and The Legend of Zelda: Echoes of Wisdom, five days before its publication, among other games.
EveryGameGuru sent Nintendo an email entitled "I have a million burner channels" and wrote "We can keep doing this all day". The filing continues: "After that, defendant began adding a CashApp account to his streams in order to continue to profit from his unauthorized streaming Nintendo's games." He has posted links to repositories that contain pirated game files, or 'ROMs'. This is in addition to his own flagrant piracy. It is intended to encourage and induce his viewers and followers to illegally reproduce Nintendo's video games.
Nintendo was not only against piracy, but also against the promotion of emulators. The filing specifically named the Yuzu, and Ryujinx, emulators. It claimed that linking to them amounted to "trafficking of that unlawful software". Nintendo's campaign to shut down these emulators led to their shutdown last year. Yuzu settled a lawsuit for $2.4M, followed by Ryujinx, which was taken offline on Nintendo's request, presumably in order to avoid a situation similar. Since then, Nintendo has been playing DMCA whack a mole with copies of Yuzu that were posted on Github.
Nintendo has demanded that EveryGameGuru pay $150,000 for each unauthorized public performance or reproduction of protected works. 404 Media estimates at least 50 streams, which is $7.5 million. It also demands $2,500 for every alleged circumvention to technological measures. However, it reserves the right "to elect to receive actual damages and Defendant’s profits" up to the value "of amounts to be proved at trial."
A Nintendo of America spokesperson told Polygon that "Nintendo cares deeply about protecting the creative work of game developers and publishers, who spend a lot of time and effort creating experiences that bring smiles for all."
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