First New Super Mario Bros. Wii pirate fined $1.3 million

[DirtyLarry Veteran]

If you've ever considered a secret life as a video game pirate, this latest news story concerning the fate of a New Super Mario Bros. Wii distributor should change your mind. Nintendo Australia has just announced that it has settled out of court with 24 year old James Burt, who had the (dis)honor of being the first man to hack, upload and distribute New Super Mario Bros. Wii online. Under terms of the settlement, Burt will have to pay $1.5 million dollars Australian (around $1.3 million dollars American) in damages to Nintendo. He'll also have to pay $100,000 Australian (around $87,070 American).

New Super Mario Bros. Wii was released November 11, 2009 in Australia, earlier than any other region. It was released November 15, 2009 in North America, November 20, 2009 in Europe and December 3, 2009 in Japan. To make matters even worse, Burt managed to find a store in Australia selling New Super Mario Bros. Wii before the authorized sell date. Burt ended up getting New Super Mario Bros. Wii uploaded to the internet on November 6, 2009.

Nintendo used some high-tech ninja skills to track Burt. Apparently the company was able to discover he was the source, contacted the Australia courst system and on November 23, 2009 had Burt's home searched and property seized to collect evidence. The company must have had a great case built up, to get Burt for $1.3 million.

You almost wanna feel bad for the guy, but when you hear this is a 24 year old who got caught. If he was under 18, it wouldn't be so bad because he'd be a dumb teenager. But this is an adult! Plus, he pirated the most popular Wii game of the 2009 holiday season! He couldn't have honestly expected to do something like that without any repercussions.

Source- Gamertell.com

I bolded out what I believe to be the parts of interest. What I am really curious about just from a technical standpoint is how does a normal person go about paying Nintendo back 1.3 Million Dollars??

[+Warwagon MVC]

So the moral of the story is only download and don't distribute (Also don't use torrents. By torrents I mean even though you are downloading you are also distributing.)? :laugh:

[Mathachew Veteran]

He?ll also have to pay $100,000 Australian (around $87,070 American).

How does this part make any sense...?

[Richard Hammond]

Hate these overreactions, how has he cost Nintendo 1.3Million worth of damages, the punishment should fit the crime, count how many times he shared it and charge him that amount, say the game was 60 Australian Dollars (i dunno how much it costs in Australia) he would have had to share it out over 20,000 times to cover them sort of damages.

[episode]

How does this part make any sense...?

He was ordered to pay Nintendo $1.5m AUS, as well as pay a fine/court fees of $100,000 AUS to the government.

[Saburac]

Yeah that last part isn't very clear. Is he also paying the $100,000 to Nintendo? If so why not just combine the amounts and if not who is he paying it to?

Edit: Answered before I could hit the Submit button. :laugh:

[Lexcyn]

Good luck ever getting that money from him.

Seriously, why do courts award so much money? Do they not know no person would be able to afford that bill unless they were, well, millionaires? And since he's 24 I doubt very much he will even have $10,000 of that.

[Mathachew Veteran]

He was ordered to pay Nintendo $1.5m AUS, as well as pay a fine/court fees of $100,000 AUS to the government.

Ah, well that makes more sense.

[Saburac]

Good luck ever getting that money from him.

Seriously, why do courts award so much money? Do they not know no person would be able to afford that bill unless they were, well, millionaires? And since he's 24 I doubt very much he will even have $10,000 of that.

It's to scare other people into not being pirates, they probably don't care so much about actually getting the money.

Uploading the game in the first place was dumb, but doing it from his own computer was incredibly stupid.

[seafirex]

Well i know that in Canada when you can't pay court fee's and other fee's they judge you have to pay, ( You have to pay it in jail time ).

But again they are open to deals ( like pay X amount per month for X amount of months or years ).

Too bad for him, i feel no pitty for him at all. He should have just kept the game for himself

[c3ntury]

So the moral of the story is only download and don't distribute (Also don't use torrents. By torrents I mean even though you are downloading you are also distributing.)? :laugh:

You fail to realise some of the private torrent trackers would be completely safe to upload to without fear of being tracked.

[+Mystic MVC]

So the moral of the story is only download and don't distribute (Also don't use torrents. By torrents I mean even though you are downloading you are also distributing.)? :laugh:

Don't be the first to distribute is what I think you meant to say. :p

[Saburac]

You fail to realise some of the private torrent trackers would be completely safe to upload to without fear of being tracked.

So what happens when they get raided?

[iamawesomewicked]

Hate these overreactions, how has he cost Nintendo 1.3Million worth of damages, the punishment should fit the crime, count how many times he shared it and charge him that amount, say the game was 60 Australian Dollars (i dunno how much it costs in Australia) he would have had to share it out over 20,000 times to cover them sort of damages.

The game was $99 Australian Dollars.

I know what message board the guy was on when he bragged about having the game. He showed the receipt and the store name where he bought it.. he couldn't have been any more stupid than he was about it.

[Richard Hammond]

His own fault then.

[Hedon]

I hope this happens to all the pirates out there.

[Eric Veteran]

The topic of this thread is not how to pirate games safely. Please keep discussions on track.

(On topic: Maybe the person should have thought about it before facilitating copyright infringment. :p)

[Growled Member]

What he did was wrong but the amount of the fine is wrong as well. No normal person could ever pay that.

[iamawesomewicked]

What he did was wrong but the amount of the fine is wrong as well. No normal person could ever pay that.

That's the point.

[Rudy]

The idiot was all over GBATemp talking about how he was uploading it to the "scene" and how 1337 he was.... got what he deserved really lol

[iamawesomewicked]

The idiot was all over GBATemp talking about how he was uploading it to the "scene" and how 1337 he was.... got what he deserved really lol

Yep GBATemp :p. His name was Kongznuts or something like that on there... he was really dumb about it.

[Saburac]

Here's the original thread: Link and the follow up thread here.

Apparently he didn't even black out his credit card information on the store receipt he posted. :laugh:

[Osiris]

What a dumb ass, and what a silly ruling, I woulda copped a cpl months jail time then having a 1.5m fine hanging over my head for next 30 years.

[Shadrack]

Good luck ever getting that money from him.

Seriously, why do courts award so much money? Do they not know no person would be able to afford that bill unless they were, well, millionaires? And since he's 24 I doubt very much he will even have $10,000 of that.

Do they gouge wages in Australia?

Yep GBATemp :p. His name was Kongznuts or something like that on there... he was really dumb about it.

Ouch ><.

The news story just got less interesting for me...

[Blackhearted]

I hope this happens to all the pirates out there.

Oh sure, let's sue atleast 2/3 of all the people on the internet, if not more. That sure sounds like a feasible game plan. :rolleyes: