Nintendo Wins $4.5 Million Default Judgment Against Switch Piracy Operation

Nintendo has won a $4.5 million default judgment against James Williams, known online as "Archbox," in a U.S. federal court case over the distribution of pirated Nintendo Switch games.

The story:
Nintendo of America filed suit in June 2024 against Williams, who it alleged was the "operator, overseer, and driving force behind several Pirate Shops" distributing extensive libraries of pirated Switch games. Williams also allegedly moderated the r/SwitchPirates Reddit community (190,000 members), which regularly discussed how to download illegally pirated games and circumvent Nintendo's anti-piracy measures.

The outcome:

• $4.5 million in damages - calculated at the maximum statutory rate of $150,000 per infringed work across 30 copyrighted titles (Animal Crossing: New Horizons, Luigi's Mansion 3, Pikmin 4, Splatoon 2/3, Super Mario Odyssey, Super Mario Bros. Wonder, Super Smash Bros. Ultimate, The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild & Tears of the Kingdom, WarioWare: Move It!, Yoshi's Crafted World, and more)
• Permanent injunction - Williams must immediately disable access to all online shops offering pirated Switch games and is barred from distributing, selling, or advertising any software or hardware designed to circumvent Nintendo's copyright protections
• Default judgment - Williams never responded to the lawsuit, so the court entered judgment in Nintendo's favor without a trial

Why $150k per game:
Under U.S. copyright law (Title 17), statutory damages range from $750-$30,000 per work, but jump to $150,000 when infringement is found to be willful - which is virtually automatic when someone operates a paid piracy storefront. This is the ceiling, and Nintendo got the maximum.

Notable context:

• Nintendo tracked Williams down through his Reddit activity and a Nintendo Switch hardware repair request that linked his personal information to the Archbox accounts
• Nintendo argued in its filing that even the $4.5 million award is "nowhere near an amount that would compensate Nintendo of America for the seriousness of the Defendant's conduct"
• Collection of the judgment remains uncertain - individual defendants in piracy cases rarely have $4.5 million in assets. The real value is the deterrent effect and the enforceable shutdown order
• This follows other Nintendo enforcement actions: a modder ordered to pay $2 million, Gary Bowser ordered to pay $14.5 million, and a recent European ruling banning modding kit sales

The takeaway:
Nintendo's legal strategy in piracy cases has evolved from takedown notices to full-blown litigation against individual operators, hardware modders, and storefront owners - seeking maximum statutory damages and permanent injunctions. The Archbox judgment is one of the largest default judgments Nintendo has secured against an individual pirate in years.

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Sources: IGN, Engadget, GamesRadar+, The Verge, and court filings from the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Washington. Original reporting available at the links above.

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