Capcom, Nintendo Spearheading DS Piracy Lawsuit

Capcom and Nintendo have joined with 53 other unspecified video game publishers to file suit against four sellers of the R4 flash cartridge for Nintendo DS, which can be used to play pirated games on Nintendo's handheld console. Through the suit, the publishers seek an injunction against distribution of the R4, in accordance with the 2009 Japanese Unfair Competition Prevention Act. Nintendo has frequently taken up arms against widespread piracy of its games. Last year, the company -- then too joined by a litany of fellow publishers -- launched a lawsuit against R4 distributors. As a result, early this year, a Tokyo court issued an injunction, but Capcom now says that legal action has had no meaningful effect in the intervening period. Despite numerous notices sent to sellers of the device, a recent Capcom statement claimed that those vendors "ignore our warnings" and "[did] not show any sincere response," leading to its current renewed offensive. Capcom said it expects the court's ruling in the new lawsuit to reflect that "our company and other software manufactures have sustained [extreme] damages from proliferation of illegal instruments."