Australian customs officials have hit out against counterfeiters with the seizure of devices capable of making illegal copies of Nintendo Co. games, signaling an intensifying battle between the Japanese game maker and would-be pirates.
The Australian Customs and Border Protection Service on Jan. 29 seized 150 items suspected of infringing the Kyoto, Japan- based company’s trademarks, spokeswoman Patricia O’Connell said in a telephone interview today. Among the items recovered were fake Wii controllers, nunchucks, games and R4 cards — copying devices capable of circumventing protection measures embedded in the company’s Nintendo DS and Nintendo DSi gaming systems.
The raid is the first time Australian customs officials have stopped the attempted import of R4 cards and follows more than 10 years of cooperation with law enforcement agencies, Nintendo Australia said on its Web site. Nintendo estimated the potential loss in sales at A$1.5 million ($1.4 million).
“It demonstrates that we’re always vigilant on counterfeit goods,” O’Connell said.
Since 2008, Nintendo has worked with local authorities to pursue more than 800 customs seizures, law-enforcement actions and civil proceedings in 16 countries, resulting in the confiscation of more than half a million Nintendo DS game copiers, Nintendo Australia said on its Web site.
The maker of the Wii game console last month sued an Australian man for being the first in the world to copy and upload the New Super Mario Bros. game to file-sharing services. The man agreed, after the court case began, to pay A$1.5 million in damages to compensate for lost sales, Nintendo said in a statement at the time.
Game Over
The swoop on the illegal copying devices also followed action in the Federal Court of Australia earlier this month against an importer and online seller of game copiers, and is part of Nintendo’s global crackdown on piracy.
In September, Nintendo’s Australian unit filed proceedings against RSJ IT Solutions Pty — an online seller of gadgets, including gaming consoles and accessories — and company directors Patrick Li and James Li.
The company and its directors were ordered to pay A$620,000 to Nintendo and surrender its game copiers for destruction. Nintendo is considering further legal action against other sellers of game-copying devices in Australia, it said.
