In a significant foothold gained in the process of cracking down on emulation, the courts have ruled in favor of Nintendo against ROMUniverse for $2.1 million dollars in damages. The lawsuit was filed in 2019, stating that the pirated games displayed counterfeit copies of Nintendo's trademarks. Nintendo has also gone after other emulation site such as loveROMS.com and LOVEretro.co.

Site operator Matthew Storman defended himself, alleging that he didn't break any rules, and that the case should be dismissed. His claims of involvement also stated that he felt he was safe from DMCA provisions and that he "isn't a part of the forum itself". However ROMUniverse offered a $30 a year membership for accessibility, allowing them to download “an unlimited number of pirated games, [referred to as ROMs,] with higher speeds than non-members,”, as Nintendo has stated in the suit. While non-profit downloads from emulation sites are pirating illegal copies, no capital is being made off the ROMs. The premium membership, however, is indeed making money for providing a service. 

ROMUniverse was taken down last week, as Judge Consuelo Marshall ruled Storman pay the requested fees. The initial number was $15 million dollars.

“Considering Defendant’s willful infringement, the Court finds $35,000 statutory damages for each infringed copyright […] would compensate Plaintiff for its lost revenue and deter Defendant who is currently unemployed and has already shut down the website”

Storman claimed the case should be dismissed on grounds of failure to state a claim, lack of jurisdiction, improper venue, insufficient service of process, and failure to join a party. The courts clearly bought none of these rather poor efforts.

“Even assuming the DMCA’s safe harbor provisions apply to Defendant, those safe harbors would not protect Defendant from liability as to Plaintiff’s trademark infringement and unfair competition claims,” Marshall adds.

Sure, Nintendo can be incredibly strict regarding their stance on video game piracy, and its legitimacy is often a hot topic amongst the community as to whether emulation is a necessary evil to preserve video games. Storman's method steps directly into the shark tank with his ridiculous claims for dropping suit, along with making money off the practice, give Nintendo the leverage to pursue as aggressively as they did. 

SOURCE: torrentfreak, NintendoEverything,