image

A number of months ago, we covered a story about Gary Bowser, a hacker who headed up Team Xecuter, a group of people who worked around copyright protections on the Switch in order to allow access to pirated games. Nintendo took Bowser to court and won, which netted Bowser 40 months in prison, and $4.5 million in restitution to Nintendo of America.

As of today, a transcript of the courtroom hearing between Bowser and Nintendo has been released, and it gives us some insight into how Nintendo’s lawyer argued the case, and what the judge presiding had to say.

First off, let’s revisit what Nintendo lawyer Ajay Singh said when Nintendo first announced that they had won the case.

“This is a very significant moment for us. It’s the purchase of video games that sustains Nintendo and the Nintendo ecosystem, and it is the games that make the people smile. It’s for that reason that we do all we can to prevent games on Nintendo systems from being stolen.”

[Nintendo lawyer Ajay Singh]

Singh also mentioned how the work Bowser did paved the way for cheaters to hop online and ruin the multiplayer experience.

“Parents should not be forced to explain to their children why people cheat and why sometimes games are not fair, just because one person wants an unfair advantage.”

[Nintendo lawyer Ajay Singh]

During the hearing, U.S. District Judge Robert Lasnik commented on the matter by asking Singh what else could be done to show people that there’s no glory in hacking or piracy. Singh responded with the following.

“There would be a large benefit to further education of the public.”

[Nintendo lawyer Ajay Singh]

Finally, Gary Bowser made a short comment on the matter. He seemed less than optimistic that anything would stop the hacking movement. Bowser claimed that, “there’s so much money to be made from piracy that (longer prison time is) insignificant.”

[Axios]

Add Comment

Comments (1)

stevintendo

2y ago

Bowser claimed that, “there’s so much money to be made from piracy that (longer prison time is) insignificant.”

---

So at the end Bowser just turned to the camera and said, "Worth it!" Am I reading this right??? 😆

Edited 2 times