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Nintendo has been awarded $4.5 million in statutory damages from James Williams, known online as Archbox, following a lawsuit filed in 2024. U.S. District Court Judge Lauren King granted a default judgment after Williams failed to respond to the legal action.
The lawsuit alleged that Williams managed a network of online stores offering pirated Nintendo Switch games and served as a lead moderator for the SwitchPirates Reddit community, which reached approximately 190,000 members. Nintendo sought the maximum penalty of $150,000 for each of the 30 proprietary titles cited in the case.
Judge King determined the total amount was not an unrealistic estimate regarding potential lost sales. The court noted that Williams could not claim ignorance of the proceedings, as he had previously retained legal counsel to challenge a subpoena from Google related to the case.
The final judgment includes a permanent injunction prohibiting Williams from distributing pirated software or circumventing copy protection. As reported by TorrentFreak, the ruling reflects the claims made in Nintendo's complaint, as the defendant never contested the allegations in court.
