Nintendo of America has asked a U.S. federal court to enter a $4.5m default judgment against an Arizona resident accused of running multiple paid websites that distributed pirated Switch games.
According to court filings, the defendant allegedly operated sites that hosted or linked to Nintendo Switch ROM files and charged users for access through subscriptions or premium download tiers. Nintendo says it sent cease-and-desist letters before filing the lawsuit, but the defendant continued operating the sites.
When Nintendo finally sued, the defendant never responded to the complaint or appeared in court. That failure to respond led to a default entry, allowing Nintendo to now request a default judgment with maximum statutory damages.
The $4.5m figure breaks down to $150,000 per work for 30 individual titles. Under U.S. copyright law, courts can award up to $150,000 per infringed work when infringement is found to be willful. Nintendo doesn’t need to prove actual lost sales to claim these statutory damages.
Beyond the money, Nintendo is seeking a permanent injunction that would force the defendant to shut down the sites, transfer or disable domains, destroy all infringing files, and hand over any related accounts. The company is also likely requesting attorneys’ fees and court costs.
This case follows Nintendo’s recent pattern of aggressive anti-piracy enforcement. In March 2024, the company settled with Yuzu emulator developers for $2.4m and forced the project to shut down. In 2021, Nintendo secured a $2.1m judgment against RomUniverse. The Team Xecuter case resulted in tens of millions in civil judgments and federal prison time for Gary Bowser, who Nintendo continues to pursue for repayment.
The difference between emulators and ROMs matters here. Emulator software itself occupies legal gray area, but distributing copyrighted game files without authorization is clearly illegal. Selling those files makes the case even more clear-cut.
Default judgments happen when defendants ignore lawsuits. Courts can then accept the plaintiff’s allegations as true for purposes of entering judgment. The judge still decides whether the requested damages and injunctions are appropriate, but defendants lose the chance to contest liability or argue for lower damages.
When ignoring Nintendo goes wrong
Once the court grants the default judgment, Nintendo can pursue collection through wage garnishment, bank levies, and other standard civil remedies. The company can also enforce the injunction by seizing domains and accounts.
The court hasn’t yet ruled on Nintendo’s request. If granted, the judgment would represent another major win in Nintendo’s ongoing campaign to deter piracy through massive financial penalties and permanent shutdowns.
