US court orders Redditor to pay Nintendo £3.4m over Switch piracy

Key Points:

• A US District Judge awarded Nintendo a $4.5 million (£3.4 million) default judgment against James Williams, a former Reddit moderator known as "Archbox," for failing to respond to a piracy lawsuit.
• Williams was accused of facilitating unauthorized shops offering extensive libraries of pirated Nintendo Switch games, including popular titles like The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom and Mario Kart 8 Deluxe.
• The court granted Nintendo $150,000 in damages for each of the 30 pirated games, citing Williams' significant infringement activities as deserving substantial punishment.
• A permanent injunction was issued, barring Williams from distributing or encouraging the distribution of pirated Nintendo games beyond the 30 titles named in the lawsuit.
• The judge acknowledged Nintendo's decision not to pursue additional DMCA damages or attorneys' fees, viewing it as a reasonable gesture that supported awarding the maximum statutory damages.