Nintendo Wants to Block Pirate Websites and Punish Game Pirates
Nintendo has asked the U.S. Government to put pressure on foreign countries to do a better job at tackling online piracy. The game company says it's suffering "huge losses" and calls for blocking of file-sharing websites and criminal prosecution against those who pirate games or facilitate copyright infringement.
Every year copyright holders get the chance to hand over their list of anti-piracy recommendations for the U.S. Trade Representative’s Special 301 report.
The review is published annually and highlights countries that in the eyes of the U.S. are not doing enough to deter copyright infringement. Nintendo is one of the companies to submit recommendations on how other countries should tackle these issues.
The gaming company states that piracy is a chronic problem that results in “huge losses,” in part due to the inactivity of foreign countries who do very little to curb copyright infringement.
“In the past few years, the scope of online piracy for Nintendo has grown dramatically. Every month tens of thousands of illegal Nintendo game files are detected on the Internet. The legal environment to limit the flow of these files remains extremely challenging,” the company explains in its letter.
Like last year, Nintendo’s letter focuses on four countries – Brazil, China, Mexico and Spain – where these challenges remain unaddressed. For each of the countries the game company offers a set of recommendations on how the legal climate can be improved, hoping the United States Government will push for change.
According to statistics presented in the letter, no less than 16% of all online piracy of Nintendo products traces back to Spain. With 1.2 million downloads this is the second largest piracy market, just behind Italy with 1.4 million downloads
While the volume of piracy has deceased somewhat compared to previous years, Nintendo wants Spain to take drastic action. Specifically, it points out that the local Intellectual Property Committee (IPC) should block pirate sites wherever possible.