Published in Gaming

Nintendo drops the legal hammer down on ROM releases

by on24 July 2018


Never mind a warning letter we are suing

Nintendo is getting nasty with those who want to make ROM releases.

In the past the outfit has allowed the game producer to settle on cease-and-desist orders or DMCA claims to protect its IP. However now it seems that Nintendo of America is going for the jugular.

It has filed a lawsuit seeking millions in damages over classic games' files being served via websites.

The Arizona suitalleges "brazen and mass-scale infringement of Nintendo's intellectual property rights" by the sites LoveROMs and LoveRetro.

These sites combine ROM downloads and in-browser emulators to deliver one-stop gaming access, and the lawsuit includes screenshots and interface explanations to demonstrate exactly how the sites' users can gain access to "thousands of [Nintendo] video games, related copyrighted works, and images".

The biggest amount of money Nintendo is seeking comes from "$150,000 for the infringement of each Nintendo copyrighted work and up to $2,000,000 for the infringement of each Nintendo trademark". The company has also requested full disclosure of the operators' "receipts and disbursements, profit and loss statements, advertising revenue, donations and cryptocurrency revenue, and other financial materials".

LoveROMs has since removed all Nintendo-affiliated links, including ROMs and emulators, and the site announced on its social media channels that "all Nintendo titles have been removed from our site".

LoveRetro.co now redirects visitors to a page that reads: "Loveretro has effectively been shut down until further notice."

Last modified on 24 July 2018
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