The U.S. District Court for the
Western District of Washington has issued a temporary restraining order against the import
and sale of video game systems containing counterfeit versions of Nintendo games being sold
at numerous shopping malls.
In a major first step in its efforts to stop the sale of
infringing products throughout the United States, Nintendo of America filed the action
against two companies, its officers and employees after receiving tips from more than 400 of
its fans. In response to the specific court order, U.S. marshals will seize the counterfeit
systems at shopping mall kiosks in the western Washington area. In addition, Nintendo is
supporting numerous federal criminal investigations and U.S. Customs has seized tens of
thousands of the infringing devices upon their entry into the country, all of which are
assumed to be headed to malls across the United States for illegal sale.
The hundreds
of thousands of products in question look identical to Nintendo 64 controllers and plug
directly into televisions, allowing users to play dozens of illegally pirated Nintendo games
from the original Nintendo Entertainment System, such as Donkey Kong and Mario Bros.
Nintendo re-released many of these popular games, currently being pirated, as part of its
Classic NES Series, which allows its fans to play their favorite classic games on their Game
Boy Advance SP units. The bootleg products sell under the names Power Player, Super
Joystick, Superjoy and Powerjoy. As a result of the federal court order, Nintendo is urging
all mall management companies around the country to immediately close the kiosks selling the
illegal products.
This action is one of many steps Nintendo is taking to protect its
creative rights and to combat the growing international problem of product piracy, explains
Jodi Daugherty, Nintendo of America's director of anti-piracy. Nintendo won't tolerate
these illegal products, and is grateful to its devoted customers. We'll aggressively
protect the quality and integrity of the video game products our fans are so loyal
to.
Daugherty added, We're confident that mall management companies around the
nation will provide their complete cooperation upon being informed of the court's
decision.
Nintendo has information identifying kiosks distributing the illegal
devices in malls in more than 40 states. They are often set up outside of Nintendo's
legitimate retailers' stores. This is the largest piracy problem Nintendo has faced in the
United States. Nintendo is still calculating the extent of its losses, but expects it to be
in the millions of dollars, once the damage to both its reputation and the harm to
relationships with its established business partners have been quantified.
