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Nintendo Wins $4.5 Million From Reddit Mod Who Sold Pirated Switch Games
The court awarded Nintendo $4.5 million and barred Williams from running pirate shops or sharing software that bypasses Switch protections.
- On Wednesday, District Judge Lauren King issued a default judgment against James Williams, ordering the Reddit moderator to pay Nintendo $4.5 million in damages for copyright infringement involving pirated Switch games.
- According to the complaint, Williams served as a "leading moderator" of the SwitchPirates community, where he solicited "donations" of gift cards and games "to be copied and distributed" through online pirate stores.
- Nintendo's $4.5 million award reflects $150,000 per violation across 30 copyrighted titles, including Animal Crossing, Luigi's Mansion, and Pikmin games, according to court documents detailing the copyright claims.
- Beyond the monetary penalty, King ordered Williams to "immediately disable access" to his alleged pirate shops and shut down social media accounts used to distribute copyrighted Switch game files.
- This ruling follows Nintendo's recent success against Ryan Daly of Modded Hardware and reflects an aggressive legal campaign against piracy that the company estimates has caused $170 million in lost sales.
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Reddit moderator who bragged about pirating Nintendo Switch games now owes Nintendo £3.4 million
A US District Judge has granted Nintendo a £3.4 million ($4.5m) default judgment against James Williams, the former Reddit moderator known online as "Archbox", after he failed to respond to a lawsuit over alleged Nintendo Switch piracy.
After the release of Nintendo Switch 2, the great N continues to fight the piracy of its games
·Madrid, Spain
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Coverage Details
Total News Sources72
Leaning Left5Leaning Right1Center5Last UpdatedBias Distribution46% Left, 45% Center
Bias Distribution
- 46% of the sources lean Left, 45% of the sources are Center
46% Left
L 46%
C 45%
Factuality
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