Nintendo of America is seeking $4.5 million in damages against Reddit editor James K. Williams, aka Archbox.
Earlier this month, the publisher unveiled innings in the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Washington seeking monetary damages following a legal battle that began in March 2024.
NOA said it “has been and continues to be damaged as a direct and proximate result of Williams' actions,” which it claims include pirating Switch games, facilitating online distribution, and software to circumvent human trafficking.
“These actions have caused significant harm to NOA's general business and intellectual property rights, as well as to the business and intellectual property rights of NOA's development and publishing partners, and have harmed the many artists, game designers, programmers, and others whose livelihoods depend on the sale of authorized products Nintendo,” the company said.
Regarding the $4.5 million in damages, NOA stated that “the amount of money is sufficient to cover the damages.” [its] quantification of injuries will be extremely difficult to determine; but there is no doubt that such a sum will be large.”
He continued: “Consequently, the money at stake in this motion falls far short of an amount that could compensate NOA for the seriousness of defendants' conduct.”
NOA initially issued a cease-and-desist letter to Williams in March 2024. In response, the document states that Williams “acknowledged that his conduct violated NOA's rights and stated that he would work with NOA to meet his demands.”
“However, he did not agree to stop his behavior and in fact denied his involvement in the pirate shops in several respects. When NOA demanded that Defendant confirm in writing that he would comply with NOA's demands, he became combative and uncooperative.”
The document notes that NOA gave Williams “one last opportunity to comply with his demands prior to trial” and alleges that they “removed or suppressed evidence relevant to NOA's claims, including his GitHub account and social media posts and messages.”
In July 2024 PLA filed a lawsuit against two people for alleged copyright infringement for the trade and sale of “circumvention devices” – Williams was one of them.
Nintendo has targeted more and more unauthorized Switch stores and modders later that year as a continuation of a lawsuit against Williams, which he won due to a default judgment after Williams failed to appear in court.
