Nintendo has always been a fierce protector of its intellectual property, but most of the actions taken against fan ROMs and projects so far has been to issue a DMCA take-down accompanied by a cease and desist order. However, the sites LoveROMs and LoveRetro are being sued by Nintendo for hosting content unlawfully.
The suit was filed in Arizona and as reported by TorrentFreak, the suit states that these two sites have committed "mass-scale infringement of Nintendo's intellectual property rights." Both sites offered ROMs and the ability to play them directly in the browser without downloading separate software.
Nintendo says that both sites are "the most open and notorious online hubs for pirated games," and now the company is taking action against the owner in his home state. While most ROM sites are often hobbyist in nature, distributing edited ROMs for others to play, Nintendo alleges that these two sites are a professional outlet that is designed to profit from their intellectual property.
Nintendo is seeking $150,000 per infringing Nintendo game and up to $2,000,000 per trademark infringement committed by the company. There are more than 140 copyrighted titles and 40 trademarks listed in the lawsuit as subject to damages, which means the company behind the ROM site is facing upwards of $100 million in damages.
Both LoveROMs and LoveRetro completely removed all Nintendo titles upon receiving the cease-and-desist letter, but as of July 23 both sites were taken offline. You can view Nintendo's full complaint against the ROM sites here.
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