Nintendo has revealed in its Special 301 report that it is suffering huge losses because of piracy and illegal file sharing and wants US government to put pressure on foreign governments to up their ante against online piracy.
“Nintendo, its publishers and developers, are injured by the prevalence and ease of illegal online distribution, as well as the continued manufacture, assembly, distribution, import, export and sale of counterfeit Nintendo video game products and illegal circumvention devices across the globe”, notes Nintendo in Special 301 comments.
Nintendo notes that the scope of online piracy has increased dramatically and every month tens of thousands illegal Nintendo game files are detected on the Internet and because of the surge in Internet piracy there are increased number of lost jobs, lost sales, lost taxes and loss of incentives to those who create and innovate.
Nintendo, like last year, concentrated on Brazil, China, Mexico and Spain this time around as well as the challenges remained largely unaddressed. The Wii U maker urged the USTR to designate that Brazil and Mexico remained on the watch list; China remained in Priority Watch List and Spain be elevated to the Watch List.
Nintendo revealed in its report that Cyberlockers, direct download websites, P2P networks and Auction sites remain to be the primary source of distribution of pirated content.
Brazil is seen as one of the major internet piracy markets as there is “no adequate legal infrastructure in place to respond to the threat it poses to rights holders.”
In a country-wise breakdown of P2P piracy, Nintendo has placed Italy on top with 19 percent share while Spain came in at second with 16 percent share followed by Brazil at 9 percent while US and France completed the top 5 tally with 7 and 5 percent share respectively.
“The Spanish Government should work with the U.S. Government and rights holders to provide necessary IP training to Spanish prosecutors, judges and IPC officials, particularly focusing on Internet piracy and effective online investigation, prosecution, and adjudication of criminal copyright infringement on the Internet”, notes Nintendo.
