Nintendo Files Lawsuit Against Two ROM Sites

Boy, do we have a juicy story for you today. So, according to TorrentFreak, Nintendo recently filed a lawsuit against Jacob Mathias, the alleged site owner of ROM websites LoveROMS and LoveRETRO.com. These two sites are known to be some of the most notorious locations for pirated games, if we're going by Nintendo's word.

Just a quick note, we at GZU will not express our opinions regarding the topics piracy.

Anyway, emulators, which run ROMs and other extensions, have been perceived as an outlet for those who cannot obtain retro games or consoles, especially if they have been no longer sold.

Nintendo, however, is one such publisher that targets these emulation sites in order to protect their IP. Well, over this past week, Nintendo filed a complaint at an Arizona federal court for copyright and trademark infringement.

According to the complaint:

"The LoveROMs and LoveRETRO websites are among the most open and notorious online hubs for pirated video games. Through the LoveROMs and LoveRETRO websites, Defendants reproduce, distribute, publicly perform and display a staggering number of unauthorized copies of Nintendo's video games, all without Nintendo's permission."

Furthermore, the sites distribute emulation bios that feature Nintendo's trademark logos and characters.

So what makes these two stand out from other emulation sites? It's all about the profit.

The two sites, being professional, profit from Nintendo's works, which is, essentially, a big no-no for Nintendo.

"Defendants are not casual gamers but are instead sophisticated parties with extensive knowlege of Nintendo's intellectual property and the video game industry more generally."

So how much is Nintendo asking for in damages? A lot.

$150,000 per infringing Nintendo game (we're talking first party here).
$2,000,000 per trademark infringement.

Apparently, there have been over 140 copyrighted titles and 40 trademarks infringed, so, in total, the lawsuit could amount to $101 million in damages.

Sounds lovely, doesn't it?

Anyway, we will see how this plays out.