Misc List of things that Nintendo chooses to cease and desist

[Larsenv]

There's a lot of misconceptions as to what Nintendo seems to cease and desist. But it's actually pretty simple. I've made a list of the things they choose to C&D.

• ROM sites.
  • Especially ones that are blatant copyright infringement. The sites that show up when you search "super mario odyssey nsp download" or whatever.
  • They seem to not go after romsets that much...
  • Nintendo is most concerned about Switch piracy right now, as it's their biggest threat.
  • Just to name a few Nintendo has taken down:
    • DarkUmbra
    • LoveROMs
    • ROMShepherd
    • ROMsuniverse
• Impressive fan games.
  • Especially ones that have a similar concept to something Nintendo is currently developing. Or a fan game that someone is trying to sell for a price (making money off of Nintendo's assets).
  • Just to name some examples:
    • Mario Royale - similar concept to Super Mario Bros. 35
    • Super Mario 64 (recompiled) - Super Mario 3D All-Stars includes that game.
    • Prime 2D - Metroid Dread is a thing.
• Tournaments for Nintendo games that people are selling tickets for.
  • Nintendo probably goes after these because people are making money off of Nintendo's games, which is not fair to them.
  • Examples:
    • Riptide
    • The Big House
• Unlicensed accessories and products, including ones that allow piracy.
  • Nintendo probably doesn't like how people make money off of unlicensed accessories.
  • Examples:
    • freeShop (3DS app to download games free from Nintendo's CDN)
      • After a C&D that didn't stop development, Nintendo patched the ability to use the app.
      • They also went after unauthorized use of the Nintendo eShop logo, but that obviously wasn't why Nintendo went after freeShop.
    • SX OS (piracy tool)
    • Unlicensed Joy-Cons
• Other blatant misuse of Nintendo's trademarks.
  • Examples:
    • Maricar (IRL go-kart experience that shamelessly uses Nintendo's characters and other assets)
    • SuperMarioLogan (monetized YouTube channel making crude videos using Mario and other characters in puppet form)

I've wanted to do a write-up with more information about this, but I cba.

Nintendo seems to only attack their biggest threats. It's not like they're going to go after you for distributing a WAD of a Wii IOS file.

I believe their lawfirms C&D you by sending you an email or sending documents over UPS or FedEx that require your signature. I've seen Nintendo use Wildwood Law Group (in the US) and Mishcon de Reya (in the UK) as lawfirms, but there's probably a lot more.

I am curious though if they press charges if you ignore the letters they send. I know someone took down a Super Smash Bros. mod page after they got an email about it, but the lawfirm never responded when they took it down.

P.S. mods, I'm not sure if naming these default romsites is against the rules, please snip them if they are.

 

[orangy57]

I wouldn't really consider fangames to be nintendo's biggest threats tho, the ones that they pick to shut down are pretty arbitrary. They do send C&Ds to projects that were unintentionally doing the same thing that nintendo was planning to do in the future like AM2R, but they also just shut down completely random ones if they become too popular like Pokemon Uranium that got a nomination at the VGAs a few years back. when everyone memes about C&Ds they're usually just talking about the fangames since those are the most likely to get nuked for no reason, even if the chances are pretty slim.

 

[Purple_Shyguy]

Gotta protect that IP

 

[FAST6191]

I don't know that I would either label the likes of freeshop as "Unlicensed accessories and products". "Unlicensed accessories and products" in my world is someone stuck mario on a bag and is trying to flog it down the local market.

Anyway most of those seem like basic copyright and trademark concerns. Fan games usually follow them being discovered.

The tournaments thing has me confused, and I am not even particularly sure of the basis for law on that one (though at the same time most of those seem to be more "because they said so" than hardcore legal battles). If it was something like the superbowl where they go after even local pubs saying we are having a superbowl party that would be one thing but it did not even seem to be that.

Though got any more on the joycons thing? I had missed that one entirely and that would be a somewhat new one in general (even MS that decided to stick unique chips in their controllers did not really care).

 

[Larsenv]

The tournaments thing has me confused, and I am not even particularly sure of the basis for law on that one (though at the same time most of those seem to be more "because they said so" than hardcore legal battles). If it was something like the superbowl where they go after even local pubs saying we are having a superbowl party that would be one thing but it did not even seem to be that.

I believe that Nintendo doesn't like when someone is selling tickets for a tournament of their games, that's my theory. Because people are making money from a big event for a game that Nintendo owns.

I haven't looked much at the Joy-Cons stuff, I remember Captain Alex was trying to sell Joy-Cons in memory of Etika, and he was asked to take it down. He asked the lawyer (which he said was nice btw) if he could get a license, and they said they'd forward that request to the appropriate department

 

[FAST6191]

I believe that Nintendo doesn't like when someone is selling tickets for a tournament of their games, that's my theory. Because people are making money from a big event for a game that Nintendo owns.

I haven't looked much at the Joy-Cons stuff, I remember Captain Alex was trying to sell Joy-Cons in memory of Etika, and he was asked to take it down. He asked the lawyer (which he said was nice btw) if he could get a license, and they said they'd forward that request to the appropriate department

They can not like it all they want. The basis in law for it though is where I am lost. Most other things are boring and pedestrian copyright and trademark things (even if comments sections when the news stories hit do not want to think so).

The joycons thing has me even more curious, though I will have to look into specifics.

 

[the_randomizer]

Nintendo: *Doesn't sell games that are otherwise near impossible or expensive to obtain:
Also Nintendo: *Throws a bitch fit when people download ROMs that have little to no impact on sales*

 

[Draxzelex]

I believe that Nintendo doesn't like when someone is selling tickets for a tournament of their games, that's my theory. Because people are making money from a big event for a game that Nintendo owns.

I haven't looked much at the Joy-Cons stuff, I remember Captain Alex was trying to sell Joy-Cons in memory of Etika, and he was asked to take it down. He asked the lawyer (which he said was nice btw) if he could get a license, and they said they'd forward that request to the appropriate department

There are weekly, monthly, and national tournaments that go on for multiple Smash titles that aren't free. They went after Big House that one time because they were emulating Melee.

 

[Larsenv]

is this why they gave C&Ds?