![]() Nintendo argued that each download cost it between $20 and $60 (the average cost of new games it sells) and that it had therefore lost between $1 and $3 million in revenue. Advertisementįurther Reading ROM sites are falling, but a legal loophole could save game emulationWhile Nintendo originally claimed that RomUniverse was responsible for "hundreds of thousands" of copyrighted downloads, that number was lowered to 50,000 based on evidence gleaned from screenshots of the site. Another attempted Storman defense based on the "first sale doctrine" also failed to go anywhere, since the site was distributing copies rather than Storman's personal property. He also pointed out that he had agreed to Nintendo's DMCA takedown requests in the past.ĭuring a deposition, though, Nintendo got Storman to admit that he had uploaded Nintendo's copyrighted ROM files himself, obliterating any attempts at a "safe harbor" claim. In a motion for dismissal, Storman invoked the "safe harbor" protections of the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA), arguing that he was just a neutral service provider for users sharing files. According to court documents, Storman's income is now derived primarily from "unemployment and food stamps." By the time Storman signed a September 2020 agreement with Nintendo to shut the site down, he said he was deriving $800 a month from the site. This included direct revenue from the sale of "premium unlimited accounts" for $30 per year that provided users with faster downloads and no limits. ![]() Storman has admitted that, in 2019, the site made up the bulk of his $30,000 to $36,000 a year in income. At the time, Nintendo said that the site had been "among the most visited and notorious online hubs for pirated Nintendo video games" for "over a decade." In September 2019, Nintendo filed a lawsuit against Los Angeles resident Matthew Storman over his operation of, which offered prominent downloads of "Nintendo Switch Scene Roms" and other copyrighted game files. Further Reading Nintendo to ROM sites: Forget cease-and-desist, now we’re suingThe now-unemployed owner of a shuttered ROM distribution site has been ordered to pay $2.1 million in damages to Nintendo after trying and failing to defend himself in the case. ![]()
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |