Nintendo Sues Video-Game Pirates

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Gaming giant Nintendo has filed a lawsuit against video-game piracy group ringleader Gary Bowser, a Canadian national behind Team Xecuter, which law enforcement said built and sold hacking devices that enabled consoles to play unauthorized versions of games.
 
Bowser was arrested last October, along with his alleged Team Xecuter co-conspirators for targeting Nintendo Switch, the Nintendo 3DS, the Nintendo Entertainment Classic Edition, Sony PlayStation Classic and Microsoft Xbox, the Department of Justice said.
 
“These defendants lined their pockets by stealing and selling the work of other video-game developers – even going so far as to make customers pay a licensing fee to play stolen games,” said U.S. Attorney Brian Moran for the Western District of Washington in the announcement of the arrests.  “This conduct doesn’t just harm billion-dollar companies, it hijacks the hard work of individuals working to advance in the video-game industry.”
 
And now Nintendo is coming to collect.

Nintendo Alleges Copyright Violation
 
The lawsuit accuses Team Xecuter of selling a circumvention device called the “SX OS” which is designed to “hijack the Nintendo Switch by interrupting and bypassing its technological security features and protections. This thereby allows the Nintendo Switch to be used for massive intellectual property theft and infringement,” according to the lawsuit filed by Nintendo against Bowser.
 
The filing outlined that Team Xecuter would stand up websites like “XECUTER.ROCKS” to sell their circumvention devices, provide support resources and even become resellers of the hacking tools.

The lawsuit adds the “SX OS” is the most popular piracy software on the Switch and at one point was found “pre-installed on 89 percent of the modded/hacked Nintendo Switch products available for illegal sale.”

Read more: Nintendo Sues Video-Game Pirates | Threatpost