What Metroid 64 Could've Looked Like

[Chrkeller]

Illusion said:

JWeinCom said:

Because being a big company doesn't mean people can steal your intellectual property. I've yet to hear an explanation or reasoning besides what amounts to "c'mon Nintendo, be cool."

It's not just some poor bloke that started a rom site in his spare time, it's someone who is trying to profit off the hard work of others and is making a pretty large effort to do so. I see no reason why the relative size of the parties should matter. I don't think being a large company should entitle one to more or less protection of the law than a small one. If you're going to say people could use Nintendo's IP however they like, then the same has to be true for indie developers, or really any creator of any IP. Your argument taken to its logical conclusion means no protection for intellectual property. 

As for how to compartmentalize my behavior, I've downloaded roms before, and probably will again. If Nintendo wants to sue me for the value of those roms, then they'd be well within their rights. But, I've caused a relatively minor amount of damage, if any, and the rom site has caused way more.  

OK so there are two arguments here:

1) Is existing copyright law just.

2) Is it right (aka. moral) for Nintendo exercise its rights fully under the law enforcing copyright law.

My above point dealt strictly with #2 and it is a subjective argument, not a legal one.  No, I do not think that Nintendo as a large company should be suing small players, issuing cease and desist orders for tiny not-for-profit projects like Metroid 64, etc even though the law allows them to do it.  It is bad business because it makes long-time loyal fans like myself who have given Nintendo thousands of my own dollars over the years want to boycott them.  It's also the case that Nintendo is basically by far the worse in the industry, where their competitors only just underline how excessively litigious Nintendo is. 

Also, I am not talking about the pirates out there that make big cash on Nintendo's IP, I am talking about the many small ROM sites that get taken down that basically had enough add revenue to break even but nothing more getting sued for multi-million dollar suits and essentially ruining the lives of these people.  It should be sufficient in my view at most to issue a cease and desist order to these ROM sites and sue for whatever profits the site earned, not bring down multi-million dollar damages that will ruin a person's life.  That being said, an even better way to handle the problem is for Nintendo to take a page from Sega's book and put their old ROM's up for sale on Steam and effectively kill the market.  Nintendo creates its own problems and then relies on heavy-handed legal force to deal with the fallout.  Yes it is completely within their rights, but I think that it is abhorrent and it is a bad image for a company that should be focused on fun and great memories.

Nintendo should take a page from sega's book?  The company that has little to no value in their IP and is a non player in the industry??? 

Sega is exactly what happens to a company when they don't  properly manage their brand and IP.

Last edited by Chrkeller - on 03 May 2022