Nintendo asks Reddit and Google to disclose information about people who run pirate shops
Nintendo is reportedly taking legal action to request information from Reddit and other companies to obtain further evidence of copyright infringement in a lawsuit it filed against people who were selling pirated games through the social news site Reddit.
Nintendo Wants Reddit to Expose r/SwitchPirates Users in 'Pirate Shop' Lawsuit * TorrentFreak
In July 2024, Nintendo sued Arizona resident James Williams for distributing Nintendo Switch games without permission. Williams, who acted as a moderator of the subreddit 'r/SwitchPirates,' is suspected of directing a large number of users to several pirate shops he operated.
According to court documents, Williams was involved in the operation of pirate shops called 'Jack-in-the-Shop,' 'Turtle in the Shop,' and 'NekoDrive.' These three pirate shops were shut down by Nintendo in March 2024 with a cease and desist letter. There was also a pirate shop called 'LiberaShop' on Telegram, which was also shut down shortly after the trial began.
'The defendants are the operators, directors, and promoters of multiple pirate shops and, through these shops, have offered a vast library of pirated Nintendo Switch games,'
To attract users to these pirate shops, the defendants published instructions on r/SwitchPirates on how to use circumvention software to break through copy protection and how to play pirated games, and developed this subreddit into a large pirate community with 190,000 members.
Nintendo identified Williams from few clues left by the defendant on the internet and served him with the complaint in August 2024.
Nintendo's method for identifying users selling pirated games is a hot topic, with posts on Reddit and the use of official repair services - GIGAZINE
However, the defendants have not filed an answer to the complaint, and the trial in early November was a default trial. If no counter-argument, or defense , is filed to Nintendo's copyright infringement claim, Nintendo will hopefully be able to continue the default trial based on additional evidence that it has not yet obtained.
Nintendo has asked the court to issue subpoenas to third parties, including platforms like Reddit, Discord, Google, and GitHub, as well as hosting service company Namecheap, to provide information.
If these companies could provide information on the operation of pirate shops and transaction records, it may be possible to track down other people involved besides Williams. For example, GitHub may have download history of circumvention software for playing pirated games, and Google may have Gmail correspondence and data file traffic information.
In particular, since the SwitchPirates subreddit was one of the defendants' main bases of operations, it is believed that there is a high probability that the defendants have information that could lead to the identification of other people who acted as moderators.
'Reddit likely has information that will be useful in preparing Nintendo's motion for default judgment against the anticipated defendants and in identifying other individuals to be named in the amended complaint. Reddit is also likely to have information regarding the growth and traffic of SwitchPirates during the relevant period of defendants' activity,' Nintendo wrote in a court document (PDF file) requesting disclosure of the information.
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in Game, Posted by log1l_ks