Nintendo sues Miami company for intellectual property misuse

As this blog has discussed, popular Japanese videogame maker Nintendo has spent the last few months fighting patent trolls and domain squatters, with varying degrees of success. 

Recently, however, Nintendo launched another lawsuit against a Miami-based modding business.

According to an article in Kotaku, Nintendo claims that HackYourConsole.com "blatantly promotes and sells unauthorized Nintendo games," along with flash cards that can be used to copy them.

The news source found that HackYourConsole.com sells at least five varieties of R4 flashcards, which are similar in design to the flashcards that Nintendo uses for its Nintendo DS and Nintendo 3DS games. With these cards, a user could load a pirated ROM (read-only memory) of a game and play it on a Nintendo device without having to purchase the game.

In addition, Nintendo accused HackYourConsole.com of providing "services to hack and modify the Wii console and allow the play of illegal software," according to Kotaku.

Of all major videogame makers, Nintendo is the only one to use R4 flachcards in its systems. As such, the company has fought particularly hard against makers and sellers of these cards. Some governments have taken Nintendo's side in this dispute. For example, it has been illegal to import, advertise and sell R4 cartridges in the U.K. since 2010. Japan placed similar restrictions on the cards in November 2012.

Still, these cards remain accessible in the U.S., prompting further legal action form Nintendo.

The ease of copying digital property has led to numerous disputes among corporations. They should work with a Phoenix business attorney to reach a solution.

Categorised in: Intellectual Property Law

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