Nintendo Sues Popular Console ROM Sites Over Egregious Copyright Infringement

Nintendo is not a fan of third-party emulators and ROMs, to put it lightly. There is an entire FAQ section on its website that explains Nintendo's stance on emulators and ROMs, but lest the point has not been made, the company is suing two of the more popular console ROM sites for hosting pirated games. One of them has shut down.

The two sites include LoveROMS.com and LoveRETRO.co. According to TorrentFreak, both sites are believed to be operated by the same person, Jacob Mathias and his Arizona company Mathias Designs LLC. Arizona is where Nintendo filed the lawsuits, alleging copyright infringement for hosting a "staggering number" of pirated games.

"The LoveROMs and LoveRETRO websites are among the most open and notorious online hubs for pirated video games," Nintendo states in its complaint. "Through the LoveROMs and LoveRETRO websites, Defendants reproduce, distribute, publicly perform and display a staggering number of unauthorized copies of Nintendo’s video games, all without Nintendo’s permission."

Nintendo is suing two popular ROM sites for alleging hosting pirated games.

LoveRETRO is no longer operating as it was—when you visit the website, you see a message saying it has "effectively been shut down until further notice," along with a 'thank you' message for users who frequented the site. LoveROMs remains, but all of the Nintendo ROMs are gone.

According to Nintendo's complaint, the site operators are not casual gamers, and instead are "sophisticated parties with extensive knowledge" of the company's IP, and also the games industry at large. Nintendo wants both sites shut down. It's also seeking $150,000 per infringing game, and up to $2 million for each trademark infringement.

If you add up all the titles that were hosted, sought after damages balloon to $100 million. In addition, Nintendo wants the site operators to rat out the sources of the infringing ROMs.