James Burt, 24, recently reached a $1.3 million ($1.5 million Australian) out-of-court settlement with Nintendo to compensate for lost revenue as a result of his early distribution of New Super Mario Brothers Wii. Burt acquired NSMB Wii early from an Australian retailer and released it on the Internet one week prior to the official launch. In addition to the $1.3 million, Burt will also pay $87,500 in attorney’s fees.
Nintendo traced the illegal release back to Burt using “sophisticated technological forensics,” which most likely amounts to looking up his IP address and calling his Internet service provider. After tracing the leak to Burt, Nintendo was granted a search order by Australia’s Federal Court requiring Burt to disclose the whereabouts of all his computers, disks, and electronic storage devices. Additionally, he was required to grant access to all of his social networking sites, email accounts, and websites.
A few thoughts: First, I am glad to see Nintendo going after uploaders. While piracy in all forms is damaging, the prosecution of uploaders and release groups is far more productive than going after individual downloaders. Second, I am shocked by the amount of information that the Australian Federal Court required Burt to divulge. While I can understand the necessity of conducting a targeted search of his computer hardware for infringing material, the surrender of all his online passwords seems a bit extreme. Email and social networking sites are not equipped for file sharing and any information acquired from these sites would be completely unnecessary considering the quality of raw data that can be acquired from torrent tracking sites and/or usenet groups. Third, the settlement amount seems astronomical. Unless Burt is independently wealthy, this settlement seems to be intended to scare away future pirates more than punish Burt.
UPDATE: Burt recently appeared on the Australian version of A Current Affair.
