Nintendo's not one to shy away from legal battles when protecting their IP. You might recall that back in June, they won $2.1 million in a lawsuit against RomUniverse - you could buy a copy of Super Mario Bros. at auction for that price - a site run by Matthew Storman which hosted ROMs for many games.
Ongoing since September 2019, that legal battle's taken a new turn. Initially, Storman was not given a permanent injunction, as Judge Consuelo Marshall stated that Nintendo couldn't prove they'd suffered "irreparable harm". However, California's federal court has now changed their position.
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California's Federal Court Issues Injunction Against ROM Site After Nintendo Legal Battle
Having taken a second look, Judge Marshall has reversed her position, stating:
Plaintiff’s evidence demonstrates a threat of continued infringement based on Defendant’s representations that he may relaunch his website which previously contained Plaintiff’s copyrighted games. Accordingly, Plaintiff demonstrates irreparable harm warranting an injunction for Plaintiff’s copyright infringement claim.
As such, Storman is now legally prohibited from starting a new website, alongside copying Nintendo game, distributing unauthorised copies, playing said copies or selling them. Storman's also been ordered to destroy all copies he has of the offending materials too, while the $2.1 million fee still stands.
Source: GamesRadar and TorrentFreak
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