Tag: Legal - Page 4
News Nintendo Won't Be Required To Offer eShop Pre-Order Refunds In Norway Or Germany
At least for now
Nintendo's already made headlines for a separate legal matter this week, and now after a two-year court battle, it has reportedly won a separate case against the German Consumer Protection Authority (VZBV) and Norway's Consumer Rights Council. The Japanese video game giant was accused of violating Norwegian and EU consumer laws, by...
News Federal Court Rules $10.1 Million Case Against Nintendo's Wii Remote As Invalid
Nintendo says it will "vigorously defend" its products
In a press release sent out today, Nintendo has announced that a patent asserted against technology found within the Wii Remote has been deemed invalid. The ruling comes from a federal court in Dallas and nullifies a $10.1 million jury award against Nintendo from way back in 2017. According to...
News Nintendo Wins Injunction Against California Man Selling Switch Mods And Pirated Games
Take that!
Last year in January, a video game hacking group known as Team-Xecuter revealed a Switch hack allowing players to run pirated games on Nintendo's hybrid device. Nintendo followed this up at the end of 2019, by taking legal action against a California resident named Sergio Moreno, who was accused of selling Team-Xecuter's mod devices,...
News US Importer Arrested For Manufacturing Counterfeit Mario And Pokémon Toys
He could face a lengthy prison sentence
When you have a franchise as popular as Super Mario or Pokémon, chances are that someone out there will try to illegally make a profit from your creations. Doing so can obviously result in some pretty major ramifications, and one man has found that out the hard way recently. The Los Angeles County District...
News The Pokémon Company Is Taking Legal Action Against Sword And Shield Leakers
It just needs to name them first
Update - Sat 14th Dec, 2019 03:30 GMT: The Pokémon Company has been given the green light to take further action against the leakers. The following update is via the PokéJungle Twitter account: The @Pokemon Company has been granted the ability to subpoena Discord and 4chan to unmask the identities of the leakers...
News Epic Sues Another Fortnite Tester For Leaking Chapter 2
Watch out, leakers
Epic Games still hasn't recovered from the Fortnite Chapter 2 leak, as it continues to hunt down and sue every leaker it can. Following on from a lawsuit Epic filed at a North Carolina court last month against a user experience tester who allegedly broke a non-disclosure agreement, it has now taken aim at a play tester within...
News Epic Sues User Experience Tester For Leaking Fortnite Chapter 2
Spoiling the surprise
The second chapter of Fortnite wasn't exactly a well-kept secret – with leaks all over the internet, but that hasn't stopped Epic Games from taking legal action against one particular individual who allegedly broke a non-disclosure agreement after he revealed information he learned as a user experience tester. Epic filed the...
News Fortnite "Ruined Our Child's Life", Claims Family At The Centre Of New Class-Action Lawsuit
"They really dug into the human brain"
Fortnite is one of the most popular video games of the present day, but a new class-action lawsuit currently being prepared in Canada is claiming that this fame has been bought via nefarious means. According to Alessandra Esposito Chartrand, an attorney with Calex Légal, Epic Games spent "many years" working...
News Switch Lite Added To Joy-Con Drift Class Action Lawsuit
Users report issues not long after release
The Switch Lite might have only been released last week, but already there have been reported cases of drift issues. It has now resulted in the same law firm in America – Chimicles, Schwartz Kriner & Donaldson-Smith – adding Nintendo's latest version of the hybrid system to its class action lawsuit...
News Billy Mitchell Threatens To Take Legal Action Against High-Score Sanctioning Bodies
The King of Kong wants his crown back
The one and only Billy Mitchell – best known for claiming high-scores in arcade games like Donkey Kong and then being officially stripped of the records – is reportedly threatening to take legal action against the sanctioning bodies Twin Galaxies and Guinness World Records. Polygon reveals Mitchell's...
News Nintendo Files Lawsuit Against ROM Website Offering Nearly 300,000 Switch Downloads
And "more than 500,000" 3DS downloads
Nintendo's crackdown on piracy continues, with its American branch filing a lawsuit against the owner of a website called RomUniverse on 10th September. The pirated games on this website allegedly show "counterfeit copies of Nintendo's trademarks" and reportedly infringe the copyright of the real works...
News Koei Tecmo Must Pay Capcom More Than $1.3 Million After Patent Infringement Court Battle
Legal laughs
Update (11th Sep, 15:30 BST): Koei Tecmo Games has been ordered to pay approximately $1.3 million in compensation after it was ruled that the company had infringed upon two of Capcom's patents. The case was first opened back in 2014 (see below), with Capcom arguing that the two separate patents had both been infringed upon. At the...
News Nintendo Wins Another War Against Piracy As Court Ruling Sees Offending Sites Blocked
Sites found to be "unlawful"
Nintendo has taken another positive step towards fighting the piracy of Switch games, with the UK High Court employing an injunction which will block access to offending websites. Five of the UK's top internet service providers - BT, EE, Sky, Talktalk and Virgin Media - will be required to "block, or at least impede...
News Niantic Pays $4m In Pokémon GO Trespassing Lawsuit, Will Introduce New Report System
Class-action lawsuit began three years ago
Pokémon GO developer Niantic will pay $4 million to settle a class-action lawsuit which was first raised against the company when the game first launched back in 2016. As you may remember, the early days of Pokémon GO's app store reign were slightly dampened with reports of dangerous play and...
News Class Action Lawsuit Officially Filed Against Nintendo For Switch Joy-Con "Drifting" Issues
"Filed on behalf of purchasers"
Yesterday, we found out a law firm located in the United States was preparing to file a class action lawsuit against Nintendo, based on reports the Joy-Con controllers for the Switch can experience "drift" issues. Now, in the latest development, the lawsuit against Nintendo of America has been officially filed by the...
News US Law Firm Opens "Switch Joy-Con Drift" Class Action Investigation
Calling on users experiencing issues
Anger over Joy-Con drifting issues appears to have finally boiled over, with a US law firm reportedly preparing to file a class action lawsuit against Nintendo. Details about this come straight from Chimicles, Schwartz Kriner & Donaldson-Smith – the firm currently looking into the possibility of a such a...
Random Nintendo Shuts Down Its Anti-Piracy Website
Farewell, angry Mario
Like many other video game companies, Nintendo does not tolerate piracy. Over the past year, we have heard about the Japanese publisher and developer taking action against individuals selling modified systems and sharing ROMS online. This has resulted in a number of legal battles and some hefty fines. As part of its measures...
News Security Researcher Avoids Prison After Hacking Into Nintendo's Network
And Microsoft's servers
Nintendo and Microsoft are once again making headlines together, but this time around it's not exactly what you might expect. 24-year-old security researcher Zammis Clark – also known as Slipstream or Raylee online – has pleaded guilty in London's Crown Court to hacking into Nintendo and Microsoft networks. The former...
News BadLand Breaks Its Silence Regarding Delayed Wii U Version Of Axiom Verge
"All this is part of a defamation campaign"
Who would have thought that a Wii U game could cause so much drama in 2019? We recently reported on the news that Limited Run Games is finally releasing the Wii U version of Axiom Verge after a costly legal tussle with the Spanish company BadLand Games. The two firms had signed a deal back in 2017 to...
Random Tokyo's Unofficial Mario Kart Service Really Wants You To Know It's "Unrelated To Nintendo"
Stickers solve everything
Nintendo might have won the lawsuit against Tokyo's Mari Mobility company - formerly known as MariCar - but somehow the go-kart business continues to bite back. Even though the company was required to pay 10 million yen (roughly USD$88,000) in damages last year and immediately stop wearing Mario-themed outfits, it's now...
News It Is Now Illegal To Sell Unauthorised Game Keys In Japan, Save File Editors Also Banned
No more cheating
Japan has revised its Unfair Competition Prevention Act, introducing several changes which will significantly affect the modding scene and, potentially, several wider gaming circles, too. Essentially, game save editors and console-modding services are now declared illegal, with offenders potentially facing fines of up to five...
News Bethesda's Fallout Shelter Lawsuit Against Warner Bros. Has Now Been "Amicably Resolved"
Official statement released today
You may remember that in June last year, Bethesda filed a lawsuit against Behaviour Interactive and Warner Bros. over the new Westworld mobile game. Over half a year later, Bethesda and Behaviour Interactive have now stated that the lawsuit has been "amicably resolved". Originally, Bethesda argued that Behaviour...
Random Backpack Kid Suing Epic For Inclusion Of Floss Dance Move In Fortnite
Join the club
Yesterday, we found out Alfonso Ribeiro - who played Carlton Banks in the early '90s television sitcom The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air - would be suing Epic Games for adding his character's dance move to its popular free-to-play multiplayer title Fortnite. Ribeiro is not the first famous person to take legal action against the video game...
News Nintendo Will Be Taken To Court Over Its "Illegal" eShop Pre-Ordering System
The story continues
As regular readers of the site may remember, earlier this year Nintendo found itself in a spot of bother with the Norwegian Consumer Council over its digital pre-order system. Currently, Nintendo refuses to offer cancellations or refunds on pre-orders made through the eShop, even when games are purchased months before their...
Random Fresh Prince Of Bel-Air Actor Suing Epic For Adding Carlton Dance Move To Fortnite
The price of success
The success of Fortnite has unsurprisingly placed it in the firing line on a number of occasions. It's been accused of promoting violence and gambling to children and has been targeted for copyright infringement. The developer PUBG Corp - known for Player Unknown's Battlegrounds - even tried to take legal action against the...
News Nintendo Takes Legal Action Against California Man For Selling Hacked Systems
Laying down the law
In recent months, Nintendo has taken a strong stance against video game piracy worldwide. In an effort to continue the good fight, Nintendo is now taking legal action against a man located in Orange County, California who has allegedly been selling hacked consoles, pirated versions of the company's games and tools to help users...
News Chinese Bureau Receives Plaque From Nintendo For Enforcing Copyright Laws
A job well done
Nintendo is serious about protecting its intellectual properties. Recently, the Japanese company has cracked down on trademark and copyright infringement in different locations around the globe. In an attempt to spread the message far and wide, it has now awarded a plaque to the Shenzhen Bureau for "protecting copyrights" and the...
Random Japanese Man Named Miyamoto Arrested For Selling Modded Super Famicom Mini
No, not that one
A 39-year-old man located in Japan has been arrested by police for selling modded Super Famicom Classic Mini consoles to three individuals in online net auctions. According to a report by Asahi via Nintendo Soup, the man added a total of five games to each of the modified systems and then resold them for approximately 61,500 yen...
News Nintendo Wins $12 Million From Trademark And Copyright Infringement Lawsuit
An expensive settlement
Earlier this year in July, Nintendo filed a lawsuit against two ROM and emulator websites at the federal court in the US state of Arizona for trademark and copyright infringement. The latest development is the owners and operators of these now-defunct websites - a married couple - have agreed to a settlement exceeding $12...
News Nintendo's Legal Tussle With Colopl Rumbles Into A Fourth Hearing
Legal eagles
Back in January, we reported that Japanese developer Colopl was being taken to court by Nintendo over five patents which the latter claims were violated in the game Shiro Neko Project (aka White Cate Project). This legal battle has been rolling on all year, with Nintendo adding a sixth infringement - regarding a system of connecting...
News Tokyo's Unofficial Mario Kart Service Continues To Dress Up Riders After Nintendo Wins Lawsuit
Perhaps a blue shell will sort this out
Even the law can't stop Tokyo's Mari Mobility company, formerly known as MariCar. After last month's reports the unlicensed Mario Kart business would be required to pay 10 million yen (roughly $88,000) in damages and immediately stop wearing Mario-themed outfits, it was believed Nintendo had finally got its...
News There Will Be No More Drifting Around Tokyo In Unlicensed Mario Karts, As Nintendo Wins Lawsuit
Game over
Japan can be both a weird and wonderful country at times with robot restaurants and cat cafes. You might have also heard about an unlicensed Mario Kart ride company located in Tokyo. Even the Australian actor Hugh Jackman, best known for playing Wolverine in the X-Men movies, has spotted these karts in action. Being a completely...
News Former Telltale Employee Takes Legal Action Following Mass Layoffs
No surprises here
Telltale Games has now been hit with a class-action lawsuit. A disgruntled former employee is suing the San Francisco-based company on behalf of himself and his fellow laid-off workers. In the filed complaint, Vernie Roberts said Telltale let go of the employees without cause and without providing them advanced notice in writing...
News Belgian Government Launches Criminal Investigation Into EA Over "Illegal" FIFA Loot Boxes
Could end up in court
The Belgian government has reportedly launched a criminal investigation into FIFA developer EA over a potential breach of gambling laws active in the country. Earlier this year, the country's Gaming Commission declared that loot boxes present in Overwatch, Counter-Strike: Global Offensive, and EA's FIFA 18 would...
News Illegal Game Sharing Site Mocks Nintendo's Recent Legal Actions With Trolling Video
Introduces new retro emulation
If you're a regular reader of these very pages, you may well be aware that Nintendo has been on something of a takedown streak just lately; yesterday we saw that Nintendo of America had enforced the removal of a fan-made Pokémon project, and countless stories of emulation sites seeing a similar fate have been do
News Nintendo Enforces Takedown Of Fan-Made Game Creator Pokémon Essentials
Eleven years after it first launched
If you've been following our recent stories on Nintendo's battle against piracy, you'll likely be aware that the company recently filed a number of lawsuits against emulation sites, sparking the closure of a major player in the process. Continuing this, and sticking to its reputation of being unashamedly...
News Nintendo And ROM Website Owner Looking To Avoid Lengthy Court Proceedings
Hoping to settle matter as soon as possible
Since Nintendo filed a lawsuit at the federal court in the US state of Arizona last month against the owner of two notorious ROM and emulator websites, a series of wider events have unfolded. The latest update on the original matter comes in the form of a new court filing
"It's not worth it for us to risk potentially disastrous consequences"
Recently, we heard the news that Nintendo had filed a lawsuit in the US state of Arizona, calling out two ROM and emulator websites for unfair competition and copyright and trademark infringement. It appears that this has helped spark a new level of fear among such...
Feature What Does Nintendo's Shutdown Of ROM-Sharing Sites Mean For Video Game Preservation?
Is gaming history in danger of being lost?
The recent news that Nintendo is taking legal action against two sites which illegally distributed ROMs has been met with an overwhelmingly positive response, and rightly so. The individuals sharing these files online care little for the intellectual property rights of the developers who slave away to make...
News Former Tiny Metal Staffer Retracts Accusation Of Kickstarter Embezzlement
"Please allow me to apologize again for my actions"
Towards the end of last year, there was controversy surrounding the funding of the Advance Wars-esque turn-based strategy title Tiny Metal. The issues stemmed from Project
News Nintendo Shuts Down JavaScript GBA Emulator Hosted On Development Platform
Serious action
News recently emerged Nintendo had filed a lawsuit against two ROM and emulator websites owned by the same Arizona-based company. Now, in related but separate news, Nintendo has shut down a repository on the developer platform GitHub - which allowed users to access Game Boy Advance games through a JavaScript-based emulator...
News Nintendo Takes Legal Action Against Two Notorious Arizona-Based ROM Websites
Serious business
Nintendo has reportedly filed a lawsuit at the federal court in the US state of Arizona earlier this week, with the publisher calling out two ROM and emulator websites - allegedly owned by the same Arizona-based company - for unfair competition as well as copyright and trademark infringement. Nintendo is requesting statutory damages...
News Japanese Man Arrested By Police For Selling Modified Pokémon GO Plus Accessories
Says he didn't realise it was illegal
Japanese authorities have reportedly arrested a 37-year-old man from Japan's Chiba prefecture for selling Pokémon GO Plus modification services. Despite claiming that he didn't know his activities were illegal, the man was arrested for violating Nintendo’s trademark by offering a Pokémon GO Plus...
News Germany Bans Retailers From Listing Video Game Pre-Orders With Vague Release Dates
A win for consumer rights
There’s currently plenty of commotion regarding micro-transactions in video games, and now a ruling by German courts means vague release dates for pre-orders of video games are no longer allowed. According to Heise, and verified by Eurogamer.de, the ruling came after a local consumer protection group raised the issue...
Much-needed clarification
When Japanese mobile developer, Colopl, announced a new White Cat Project game (also known as Shiro Neko Project) for the Switch last week during its 4th anniversary live stream, there was widespread confusion as to how it even got the go-ahead. At the start of this year in January, Nintendo filed a lawsuit against this...
News Nintendo's "Illegal" Pre-Order System Issue Has Been Passed On To German Authorities
In breach of EU consumer law?
Norway's authorities have claimed that Nintendo is in breach of EU consumer law, asking Germany (the home of Nintendo of Europe) to take action. Earlier this year, the Norwegian Consumer Council argued that four major online gaming stores had broken the Norwegian Consumer Act by employing...
News Warner Bros. Hits Back At Bethesda's Fallout Shelter Lawsuit, Describes Claim As "Baseless"
How will things unfold?
Just last week we reported on the news that Bethesda had filed a lawsuit against Warner Bros. and Behaviour Interactive over the new Westworld mobile game. The studio claimed that the game uses code that was originally created for Fallout Shelter, and there seemed to be some pretty fishy evidence to back...
News PlayerUnknown's Battlegrounds Creator Drops Lawsuit Against Fortnite
Victory legale
About a month ago PUBG Corp - the company behind the incredibly successful "Battle Royale" title PlayerUnknown's Battlegrounds - issued a copyright violation lawsuit against Epic Games, makers of Fortnite. In case you've been living under a rock for the past year, Fortnite is currently one of the biggest...
News Epic Is Suing Former Employee For Leaking Major Fortnite Details Before Release
Claims a non-disclosure agreement has been breached
A former employee of Epic Games is reportedly being sued by the company for leaking details surrounding Fortnite's fourth season, sharing information on its themes and plot points before its official release. As the game's third season was coming to a close, excitement began to rise amongst...
News Bethesda Sues Warner Bros. Claiming Fallout Shelter Code Has Been Stolen
New Westworld mobile game looks suspicious...
Fallout series developer and publisher Bethesda is reportedly suing Warner Bros. and Behaviour Interactive over the new Westworld mobile game, claiming it uses code originally created for Fallout Shelter. Fallout Shelter is a free-to-play game which recently arrived on Nintendo Switch, tasking...
