Source: Nintendo / Mario & Luigi: Brotherhood
This is a perfect example of “f*** around and find out.” A man learns the hard way that Nintendo doesn't play with its IP.
Meet Jesse Keighin. According to a lawsuit filed by Nintendo in a Colorado district court earlier this week, he had a hobby of streaming Switch games before they came out and bragging about it, which is a huge NO, NO for those in the know.
The lawsuit claims he said: “[I] can do it all day,” in a letter to Nintendo, and in response, the Mario-maker has been hit with a lawsuit that could cost him up to $7.5 million.
First reported by 404 MediaKeighin is accused of streaming leaked Nintendo Switch gamesas recently released Mario & Luigi: Brotherhood, using emulation software. The website says he committed the act up to 50 times in the last two years.
Nintendo is seeking $150,000 in damages for each instance of alleged copyright infringement.
Per Kotaku:
“All of these streams were unauthorized and all jeopardize Nintendo's legitimate pre-release marketing,” the legal complaint filed on November 6 states. “They also promote and encourage the downloading of pirated copies of unreleased games. The defendant's streams often simply consist of him playing leaked Nintendo games without comment for extended periods of time.
Recently, Nintendo has been on a renewed mission to combat emulation, leaks and piracy, from people playing The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom ahead of the PC release to fans sharing scans of art books before from posting to the Discord servers. This year alone, it killed two popular Switch emulators with legal threats that quickly shut them down.
When Nintendo trolling goes wrong
According to KotakuKeighin could have avoided a lawsuit, but the constant trolling of the company forced Nintendo's hands. The lawsuit alleges that the video game company had already shut down its YouTube channel with revenue and other accounts, telling Nintendo that it would help others find “newer and updated copies” of Switch emulators to help them pirate games.
In one post, Keignhin wrote, “LOVE YA'LL! CAPITALISM IS CANCER! MY CHANNEL IS DELETED FOR SHARING GAMEPLAY VIDEOS! THIS IS YOUR REWARD!”
A Nintendo spokesperson confirmed the lawsuit in a statement to Kotakuwriting, “We can confirm that we have filed a lawsuit against an individual who has been and continues to be engaged in clear infringement of Nintendo's IP rights, as well as violations of our Game Content Guidelines. Nintendo is passionate about protecting the creative works of game developers and publishers who spend significant time and effort creating experiences that bring smiles to everyone.”
We wouldn't be surprised if this guy wanted to hit the reset button.
