Accused Mario pirate agrees to pay millions


9 Feb 2010

A 24-year-old man has agreed to pay Nintendo AUS$1.5 million for loss of sales revenue after he allegedly illegally copied and uploaded the New Super Mario Bros. for the Wii online prior to the game’s release in Australia last year.

Copying and distributing video games without prior approval in Australia is a no-no, according to Australia’s Copyright Act, which Nintendo cited when it took the accused, James Burt, to court.

Australia’s Federal Court granted Nintendo a search order, upon which the company accessed Burt’s hard drives, email and sites for which he had a password.

Burt agreed to pay the AUS$1.5 million as part of an out-of-court settlement. He will also reimburse Nintendo $87,000 for legal costs.