Author Topic: Mario Pirate Settles For 1.5 Million  (Read 18023 times)

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Offline NWR_DrewMG

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Mario Pirate Settles For 1.5 Million
« on: February 09, 2010, 02:06:54 AM »
A pre-release leak of New Super Mario Bros Wii will cost a gaming pirate 1.5 million dollars.
 http://www.nintendoworldreport.com/newsArt.cfm?artid=21140

 A Queensland, Australia man who leaked New Super Mario Bros Wii on the internet a week before the game launched will pay Nintendo 1.5 million dollars in damages.  The man, James Burt, 24, was traced by what Nintendo referred to as "sophisticated technological forensics" and was ordered to allow Nintendo access to his email accounts, websites, and web accounts.   Burt will also be required to pay Nintendo's legal bill of $100,000.      


Nintendo Australia managing director Rose Lappin commented on the situation, calling the leak a mar on the game's release, especially since the Australia release came before other countries.  Lappin said, "It wasn't just an Australian issue, it was a global issue. There was thousands and thousands of downloads, at a major cost to us and the industry really.  It's not just about us. It's about retailers and if they can't sell the games then they have to bear the costs associated with that.  Once it's on the internet it's anyone's really."

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Offline BranDonk Kong

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Re: Mario Pirate Settles For 1.5 Million
« Reply #1 on: February 09, 2010, 10:13:50 AM »
Ouch. Bad idea buddy, bad idea (uploading the game).
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Offline SixthAngel

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Re: Mario Pirate Settles For 1.5 Million
« Reply #2 on: February 09, 2010, 10:18:35 AM »
The punishment seems a bit harsh at least he did upload the game.

These are at least the people to go after since punishing downloaders of a few titles with excessive fines seems ridiculous.

Offline Morari

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Re: Mario Pirate Settles For 1.5 Million
« Reply #3 on: February 09, 2010, 10:19:21 AM »
That's an utterly ridiculous fine. Of course, all of these media cartels think that their **** is worth more than it really is. It must be nice to have the world governments believe in your imaginary damages.
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Offline KDR_11k

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Re: Mario Pirate Settles For 1.5 Million
« Reply #4 on: February 09, 2010, 10:39:03 AM »
The game sold over 10 million copies already and this guy wasn't just some random P2P filesharer, he was the initial source of the game. I'd say the game is clearly worth a LOT.

What's not clear from this story is whether the 1.5M is a settlement or a fine. The text sounds like he got smacked by a court but the title says he "settles".

Offline NWR_DrewMG

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Re: Mario Pirate Settles For 1.5 Million
« Reply #5 on: February 09, 2010, 10:45:28 AM »
It's an out of court settlement.  I should have been more clear in the article.
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Offline Deguello

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Re: Mario Pirate Settles For 1.5 Million
« Reply #6 on: February 09, 2010, 10:54:33 AM »
That's an utterly ridiculous fine. Of course, all of these media cartels think that their **** is worth more than it really is. It must be nice to have the world governments believe in your imaginary damages.

Hey he didn't just upload his own copy for "backup" in the gray-in-law, black-in-intent "filesharing" piracy scene.  He stole the game and put it up on the internet a week before it was even released.

$1.5 million is getting off light.  Just 30,000~ stolen copies.  Nintendo could have had his ass in hock for $50 X times downloaded.
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Offline Chozo Ghost

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Re: Mario Pirate Settles For 1.5 Million
« Reply #7 on: February 09, 2010, 12:09:58 PM »
One time I bought Mario Galaxy on ebay, and I thought I was getting a good deal but what came was an obvious forgery. The disc looked like it had its image printed on it, and it wasn't even the right image for the disc. It also didn't have the manual or case, and didn't even work at all... Man, I was so pissed...

I reported this idiot to ebay, paypal, and also to Nintendo themselves. I don't know what happened to him, but I hope he got prosecuted.
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Offline Chozo Ghost

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Re: Mario Pirate Settles For 1.5 Million
« Reply #8 on: February 09, 2010, 12:14:44 PM »
The punishment seems a bit harsh at least he did upload the game.

These are at least the people to go after since punishing downloaders of a few titles with excessive fines seems ridiculous.

I don't think its ridiculous. I BUY my games (often used, but still...) and since I buy my games you can believe I'm going to be pissed off about people getting for free what I have to pay for. I am also a Nintendo fan, so people ripping them off pisses me off for that reason too... so I'm doubly pissed.

I don't think piraters should be tortured, executed, or receive lengthy prison sentences for what they do, but forced to pay heavy fines seems like appropriate. This guy probably cost Nintendo more in lost sales than what he is being forced to pay. If idiots like him didn't upload pirated games then they wouldn't be available for other pirates to download. The punishments need to be severe like this so that people stop doing it.
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Offline GoldenPhoenix

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Re: Mario Pirate Settles For 1.5 Million
« Reply #9 on: February 09, 2010, 01:08:08 PM »
Bravo, these stories make me smile.
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Offline BranDonk Kong

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Re: Mario Pirate Settles For 1.5 Million
« Reply #10 on: February 09, 2010, 01:20:32 PM »
While what he did is wrong, people that download games are going to download them anyway, and this guy didn't actually cost anyone anything (certainly not 30,000 copies of the game) in lost sales. It's not like someone thinks "If I can't download this game a week before release, I'll just buy it." I agree these people should be gone after, but it's not his fault that it's so easy to play backups on the Wii, and he's not the only person that does this. Lower your prices, increase your security, and watch your game sales increase.
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Offline BlackNMild2k1

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Re: Mario Pirate Settles For 1.5 Million
« Reply #11 on: February 09, 2010, 01:38:00 PM »
^you are very wrong.
The copy he stole and uploaded to the internet about a week before release could have been downloaded over 100,000x. Would everyone that downloaded that have gone out and bought a copy? probably not. But there are alot of people that might have bought it that felt they didn't have to once it showed up for free on the internet. That is a bunch of lost sales.

It's not like Nintendo tracked down a bunch of random downloaders and tried to prosecute them. This is the guy that intentionally leaked a game to the internet 7 days before it was available to buy to the public legally. That is theft and copyright infringement. If Nintendo was to go after anyone to stop the pirating of their software, this would be the guy. The one at the source of the problem.

I bet this guy won't be uploading anymore copies of anything to the internet anytime soon.

Offline MegaByte

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Re: Mario Pirate Settles For 1.5 Million
« Reply #12 on: February 09, 2010, 02:10:25 PM »
You don't need "sophisticated technological forensics" when the moron bragged about his deeds in public.
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Offline BlackNMild2k1

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Re: Mario Pirate Settles For 1.5 Million
« Reply #13 on: February 09, 2010, 02:16:36 PM »
Good. even more reason why this moron needed to be slapped with a fine beyond what he will likely ever be able to pay back.

Offline that Baby guy

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Re: Mario Pirate Settles For 1.5 Million
« Reply #14 on: February 09, 2010, 02:56:58 PM »
It was bad stuff, too.  He posted an uncensored copy of the receipt, had it on his personal site, where a whois check would show his name, address, and all that jazz.  Really not the smart way to go.

Offline NinGurl69 *huggles

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Re: Mario Pirate Settles For 1.5 Million
« Reply #15 on: February 09, 2010, 03:34:38 PM »
Haha, pirate scum!
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Offline KDR_11k

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Re: Mario Pirate Settles For 1.5 Million
« Reply #16 on: February 09, 2010, 03:41:05 PM »
Natural selection in action.

Offline D_Average

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Re: Mario Pirate Settles For 1.5 Million
« Reply #17 on: February 09, 2010, 03:53:26 PM »
This dudes life is OVER. What a waste.

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Offline brian577

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Re: Mario Pirate Settles For 1.5 Million
« Reply #18 on: February 09, 2010, 04:28:00 PM »
/
« Last Edit: February 09, 2010, 04:31:32 PM by brian577 »

Offline BwrJim!

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Re: Mario Pirate Settles For 1.5 Million
« Reply #19 on: February 09, 2010, 06:32:30 PM »
the part that is kinda wrong here is that they got access to ALL his information beforehand.  using this jedi forensics of theirs. 
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Offline Mop it up

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Re: Mario Pirate Settles For 1.5 Million
« Reply #20 on: February 09, 2010, 07:06:37 PM »
How egotistic must one be if they think they have the privilege to own a game they didn't pay for?

Offline Morari

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Re: Mario Pirate Settles For 1.5 Million
« Reply #21 on: February 09, 2010, 08:51:14 PM »
$1.5 million is getting off light.  Just 30,000~ stolen copies.  Nintendo could have had his ass in hock for $50 X times downloaded.

No, they couldn't have. That's why they settled out of court. That's why all copyright infringement cases settle our of court. To say that this guy caused $1.5 million in damages is asinine. He could have stolen an entire shipment of the game from Wal-Mart and got off easier. Copyright infringement cases are ridiculous.

Nintendo, and other entertainment creators, should be more proactive in their anti-piracy practices. Make good games (with no DRM!) and charge a fair price for them. New Super Mario Bros. Wii is a great game, but it's not worth $50. Most games aren't worth $50 and that's why piracy is so high. These games are marketed towards age groups that do not have jobs and do not have money. They're people that usually can't purchase the game anyway. If developers began charging $20 for games, I guarantee that they'd see a huge boost in sales, and probably even make more of a profit than by selling fewer units for more money like they do now.
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Offline BranDonk Kong

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Re: Mario Pirate Settles For 1.5 Million
« Reply #22 on: February 09, 2010, 09:05:43 PM »
That's what I'm saying. I'm not wrong, there's no way to say how many people downloaded *his* copy, etc. Does it say *where* he uploaded it? Sure, piracy = lost sales, but it's so easy to copy Wii games you can't blame one single guy for 30,000 lost sales.
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Offline Guitar Smasher

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Re: Mario Pirate Settles For 1.5 Million
« Reply #23 on: February 09, 2010, 09:12:18 PM »
Nintendo, and other entertainment creators, should be more proactive in their anti-piracy practices. Make good games (with no DRM!) and charge a fair price for them. New Super Mario Bros. Wii is a great game, but it's not worth $50.
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Quote
Most games aren't worth $50 and that's why piracy is so high.
Piracy is so high because it's so easy. 

Quote
These games are marketed towards age groups that do not have jobs and do not have money.
If we're talking about young adult males, they have more disposable income than other demographics as they don't have to support dependents or pay mortgages or save for retirement.  They're also more likely to know how to pirate.

Quote
They're people that usually can't purchase the game anyway. If developers began charging $20 for games, I guarantee that they'd see a huge boost in sales, and probably even make more of a profit than by selling fewer units for more money like they do now.
If that was the case, then they'd already be doing that.  They do have financial analysts, you know.  Otherwise they wouldn't have any shareholders.

EDIT: Let's try your $20 idea.

At $50 NSMBWii has generated $500 million in revenue (10 million copies sold, assuming $50 US is the average earned per copy sold).  At $20 the game would have to sell 25 million copies to just match overall revenue.  It would have to sell even more to match marginal profit if we consider the cost of producing an extra 15 million copies.  I don't think this is very probable...

Regardless, even at a more affordable price, the majority of people who pirate games are still going to choose the free option.  If one has no issue with pirating (ethically), there's still no incentive to pay (other than tangible benefits like artwork or a manual).
« Last Edit: February 09, 2010, 09:26:12 PM by Guitar Smasher »

Offline TJ Spyke

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Re: Mario Pirate Settles For 1.5 Million
« Reply #24 on: February 09, 2010, 09:29:42 PM »
No, they couldn't have. That's why they settled out of court. That's why all copyright infringement cases settle our of court. To say that this guy caused $1.5 million in damages is asinine. He could have stolen an entire shipment of the game from Wal-Mart and got off easier. Copyright infringement cases are ridiculous.

Nintendo, and other entertainment creators, should be more proactive in their anti-piracy practices. Make good games (with no DRM!) and charge a fair price for them. New Super Mario Bros. Wii is a great game, but it's not worth $50. Most games aren't worth $50 and that's why piracy is so high. These games are marketed towards age groups that do not have jobs and do not have money. They're people that usually can't purchase the game anyway. If developers began charging $20 for games, I guarantee that they'd see a huge boost in sales, and probably even make more of a profit than by selling fewer units for more money like they do now.

Guitar already smashed holes in most of your arguments, but I want to add some more stuff. First, price has NOTHING to do with piracy. Piracy is rampant even among PC download games that are $10-$15, and even among iPhone/iPod Touch games that are $1. Most people who pirate games don't factor in the price of a game when deciding to pirate it.

While a lower price MIGHT boost some games sales numbers, that doesn't guarantee success at all.

This guy got off light. If anything, punishments for people who are pirates are too lenient.

The ONLY argument I agree with on people who argue against these copyright violation lawsuits is how much money was lost. I know people who download PSP ROMs, and most of the time they would never have bought the game anyways. I myself have downloaded music online. Did the record companies lose any money? No, because if I wasn't able to download them I just would not have those songs at all, so I wouldn't have bought the songs anyways.
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