If there’s one thing Nintendo is passionate about – aside from constantly delaying the expansion of the Metroid franchise – it’s suing people. The notoriously strict company tosses DMCA notices around without waiver and seems to love being in courtrooms.
But Nintendo seems to really enjoy bringing companies to court dealing with Nintendo ROMs. One such case has just been closed in favor of Nintendo (via TorrentFreak), with popular website ROMUniverse being forced to donate $ 2.1 million to Nintendo. This is yet another win for Nintendo in its never-ending attempts to stop retro console emulation.
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In this particular situation, it would of course not have been easy for Nintendo to look the other way. Unlike some other ROM sites attacked by Nintendo, ROMUniverse actually charged “premium” access to its ROM collection. For $ 30 a month, ROMUniverse subscribers could download the vast collection of ROMs on the site faster than non-paying visitors. This business model is different from most other ROM sites that keep everything free but make money indirectly through on-page ads.
ROMUniverse owner Matthew Storman denied the allegations and decided to represent himself in court. He argued that he never uploaded any of the ROMs, so it shouldn’t be his fault. However, U.S. District Court judge Consuelo Marshall didn’t buy it.
However, Judge Marshall has significantly reduced Storman’s fine. Nintendo wanted $ 15 million from ROMUniverse, but the judge thought it was too much. It concluded that ROMUniverse’s presence did not materially affect Nintendo’s business (the company made record profits last year). Also, the website is no longer online as Storman is removing it in the middle of the trial after discussing the matter with Nintendo’s lawyers.
Obviously there are plenty of other websites that host Nintendo ROMs as well. But ROMUniverse will no longer be one of them, and Nintendo has another $ 2.1 million to throw away.
