Nintendo is not a fan of patent infringement or consumer piracy, and is notorious for taking offenders to court. The company even sued Palworld creator PocketPair last year for allegedly violating several patents in its popular game. Now, however, it has demanded a hefty fine from an individual who used to moderate a Switch piracy subreddit.
As reported by Tom"s Hardware, Nintendo is seeking $4.5 million in a default judgment against James Williams - known by his online persona of "Archbox" - for running several Switch piracy sites, the subreddit, and shops where games were made available to be downloaded on jailbroken or modded Nintendo Switch consoles.
Apparently, Williams received several cease-and-desist letters from Nintendo regarding his practices, but he paid no heed to them. The default judgment being pursued against him is also due to the defendant not appearing in court on the day of proceedings. Williams is further accused of charging for money and asking for donations as he promoted Switch piracy methods to thousands of individuals.
Independent investigations into Williams" whereabouts further described him as "one of the leading kingpins" behind online piracy storefronts. Meanwhile, Nintendo laments that the defendant distributed thousands, or even hundreds of thousands, of games illegally, causing revenue losses for the company.
As such, Nintendo has requested the court to award it damages worth $4.5 million. If Williams continues to be missing in action, the presiding judge will likely grant this request, spelling even more trouble for the alleged pirate. Of course, they say that there are always two sides to a coin, but seeing how airtight the case and evidence against James "Archbox" Williams seem to be, it seems unlikely that he"ll have a happy ending. We"ll likely find out more in this regard over the next few days and weeks, hopefully.