There are gamers out there who flat out refuse to pay for games, instead choosing to find various means and methods to get a game for free, even if it results in piracy. Unsurprisingly this has allowed a piracy market to thrive, although it seems that the internet is now free of at least one ROM website.In a report from TorrentFreak, it seems that a couple who owned the LoveROMS.com website have reached a settlement agreement with Nintendo, in which they will have to pay $12 million to the company, while admitting to both direct and indirect copyright infringement. Now the amount of $12 million is no small figure to sneeze at, but it seems that the couple had decided that they did not want a long and drawn out court battle that could have potentially resulted in damages greater than $12 million.
That being said, it is unclear if this $12 million figure is only for show and the actual amount is less. It has been mentioned before that companies usually use such big figures in an attempt to scare potential perpetrators off. As TorrentFreak points out, the MPAA’s lawsuit against Hotfile was reported to be a court judgement of $80 million, when in reality the behind-the-scenes settlement was around $4 million.
The couple’s website has since had all its contents removed and is left with a message acknowledging their mistake while issuing an apology to Nintendo. “Our website, LoveROMS.com/LoveRetro.co, previously offered and performed unauthorized copies of Nintendo games, in violation of Nintendo’s copyrights and trademarks. LoveROMS.com/LoveRetro.co acknowledges that it caused harm to Nintendo, its partners, and customers by offering infringing copies of Nintendo games and has agreed to cease all such activities.”