Topic: Japanese Man Gets 2.5 Years for DS Piracy

[NWR_Lindy]

Osaka man gets hard time for software piracy.
 http://www.nintendoworldreport.com/newsArt.cfm?artid=19508

 A judge in Kyoto, Japan has sentenced an Osaka man to 2 years 6 months jail time for selling copied DS games.      

38-year-old Yoshiaki Asagiri was found guilty of copyright violations, and also fined Â¥2 million with Â¥7,135,450 in other penalties.  The prosecutors received the financial penalties they requested, but were denied the 4 years 6 months of incarceration they were looking for.    

Asagiri's crimes include running a website that allowed patrons to download DS games, as well as selling bootleg Chanel and Luis Vuitton goods.  He ran the website with several other people, including a female accomplice.    

Judge Junichi Tochigi said that Asagiri's crime was an "insult" to those that worked so hard to create the games, and that the losses of the copyright holders were clearly "great."

[Stratos]

Score another one for the good guys.

I detest piracy.

[Mop it up]

I see counterfeit games on eBay all of the time, especially for DS. They need a better policy on that site.

[Stratos]

I see counterfeit games on eBay all of the time, especially for DS. They need a better policy on that site.

One of the reasons I steer clear of GBA and DS games on eBay. I know some of those will brick your system too.

I only buy on there from people I know.

[Plugabugz]

I see counterfeit games on eBay all of the time, especially for DS. They need a better policy on that site.

One of the reasons I steer clear of GBA and DS games on eBay. I know some of those will brick your system too.

I only buy on there from people I know.

Yes i learned my lesson on that.

[Flames_of_chaos]

There are a bunch of counterfeit GB,GBC,GBA and I think DS games in Gamestop atleast you can inspect the cart on site.

[Stratos]

I'm a little fuzzy on my piracy knowledge, but can't you tell their illegitimacy through the misspelling of Nintendo as Nuntendu or Noontendo or something?

[MegaByte]

Most of them actually say Nintendo, but the quality of the plastic molds are inferior to the real deal.  The lower quality of the label printing (and lack of embossed number) are other easy giveaways.

[Mop it up]

Fortunately it doesn't look like piraters have managed to create perfect copies of games. As long as you're paying attention it is pretty easy to spot a fake.

[GoldenPhoenix]

Scary I've bought several DS and GBA games on eBay! Don't think they are fakes though.

Personally I think the guy should be taken to Nintendo's vault and drowned in their money. Who is with me?

[King of Twitch]

Considering their first quarter profits, he would probably asphyxiate from the laughing gas first

[NWR_Lindy]

Funny story about GBA piracy.

A few years ago I bought a GBA Metal Slug game off of eBay, and it was supposedly from a guy in Canada.  It arrives at my door with a return address located in India, and when I opened the box it was obviously pirated (it was pretty well-done, but the box was printed on cheap, glossy cardboard and the cartridge label was correct but not professionally done).  So I emailed the guy and said "Hey, this looks pirated, I ordered a legit game.  I want a refund".  He told me to send it back to him - in Canada - and he issued me a full refund.

About six weeks later, the game wound up back on my doorstep marked Return to Sender.  So I got a free pirated copy of Metal Slug Advance.  Very weird, very shady.  The game worked, though, not that I wanted it.

[Stratos]

At the very least you can keep it as a collectors piece. Glad you got your money back, though. I've heard horror stories where buyers get shafted from people who sell pirated copies.