Nintendo is suing a Reddit moderator and alleged Switch pirate for $4.5 million, claiming the figure is "nowhere near an amount that would compensate Nintendo of America for the seriousness of the Defendant's conduct."
The conduct Nintendo references is the alleged "DMCA anti-trafficking violations" of James "Archbox" Williams, a moderator on the Switch Pirates subreddit who is accused of copying and distributing pirated Nintendo Switch games.
As IGN reported at the time, Nintendo tracked down the alleged Switch pirate using a combination of Reddit posts and repair orders and sued Williams for allegedly violating its digital copyrights by selling pirated copies of Switch games. It was able to locate him via an online investigation that traced Archbox to an address in Arizona.
Now, in new court papers spotted by Polygon, Nintendo has filed a 30-page complaint accusing Williams of being "directly involved in creating, operating, promoting, supporting, and/or maintaining several other Pirate Shops," as well as the "Circumvention Software to facilitate widespread use of the Pirate Shops."
Nintendo said it reached out to Williams in March 2024 with a cease and desist, and claimed the defendant "acknowledged his conduct violated NOA's rights and stated he would work with NOA to satisfy demands." But the megacorp alleged that Williams "did not, however, agree to cease his conduct," denied involvement with the "pirate shops," and when NOA requested he confirm in writing that he would comply with NOA’s demands, "he became combative and uncooperative."
Shortly thereafter, a number of the pirate shops became inaccessible as the defendant "deleted or hid evidence relevant to NOA's claims," Nintendo said, including many of his social media posts and his GitHub account. After the company tried again in May 2024 to give Williams "a final opportunity to comply," it then filed a complaint against the individual in June, claiming direct and indirect copyright violations. When the court gave permission for Nintendo to approach Williams' internet service providers in November 2024, the firm claimed the discovery "corroborated Williams' involvement."
"NOA has been, and continues to be, damaged as a direct and proximate result of Williams’ conduct," the filing explained. "NOA has reason to believe that Williams has engaged in the infringing and unlawful reproduction and distribution of hundreds or thousands of copyrighted Nintendo Switch Games, and that through the various Pirate Shops, he has distributed or facilitated the distribution of thousands, if not hundreds of thousands, of unauthorized copies of such Nintendo Switch Games. NOA also has expended and continues to expend significant resources to halt or stem video game piracy, including through developing, implementing, and updating its TPMs and policing and investigating reports of piracy such as Williams’.
"Furthermore, there can be no question that Williams’ conduct was willful, and that his willfulness is sufficiently alleged by the Complaint. In any event, Williams’s own statements and actions are well-documented, and fully support that Williams actually knew his conduct was infringing or else acted with 'reckless disregard for, or willful blindness to, the copyright holder's rights.'"
The company said that because of the "difficultly in assessing the precise amount of actual damages suffered by NOA, exacerbated by Williams’s deliberate default and refusal to participate in discovery," it is now seeking judgment in favor of Nintendo for a monetary award of $4.5 million and an injunction, but says it is not seeking "statutory damages windfall or punitive award," but "only" $150,000 for each title it believes Williams infringed the copyrights of, of which there are 30. It is also not pursuing recompense for its legal costs.
Photo by BEHROUZ MEHRI/AFP via Getty Images.
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