Illegal Nintendo Clones Are Running Rampant On Windows Store

Posted Fri 11th Oct 2013 10:30 by Damien McFerran

Fancy Mario Jump!, Bowser Town Defense, Pokemon Attack! or Yoshijump?

Games which illegally use Nintendo characters are flooding the Windows Store, according to a report by Develop.

Titles such as Mario Jump!, Bowser Town Defense, Pokemon Attack! are Yoshijump are all available now for download on Windows 8 devices — some of these games have been downloaded many times over, working their way to the top of the charts.

Microsoft claims to be taking copyright theft very seriously, but also says that it can't automatically decline new submissions. It says it has safeguards in place to ensure infringing apps are flagged, and that Nintendo should use these to bring offending titles to the company's attention:

With regards to trademark infringement, with every app there is an option to report the app for violating the Windows Store's Terms of Use. If a company feels a Windows Store app is infringing on their copyrights or trademarks, they should report the app and we will take immediate action to determine if the app should be removed from the Windows Store.

Have you sampled any of these titles? Do you think Microsoft should be taking harsher action against copyright infringement? Let us know by posting a comment below.

http://www.nintendolife.com/news/2013/10/illegal_nintendo_clones_are_running_rampant_on_windows_store

"VoiceOfReason said:

It's even worse than the article suggests! I just went on the Windows store, and about a sixth of all the "New and Rising" games were with Nintendo characters (most Pokémon). This should Stop!!!"




Looks like they are riding the Pokemon wave.

Everyone wants to play Nintendo games xD

If I get the the gist of what Microsoft said they want Nintendo to police their(Microsoft's) window store..... I can think of another way Nintendo can handle it, is sue the living daylights out of Microsoft.

So Microsoft caught the Apple syndrom of policing their markets. This isn't going to end well for anybody in the industry especially on the mobile side if they don't start doing what they should of been in the first place. I know you don't want to lose a possible $50 of revenue but risking a several million dollar lawsuit isn't the best way to go about things.

I mean their method may work for youtube, which is a free service. But you are providing a market place where no policing is taking place only opens the owner to litegation and endangers the stability of the mobile market as a whole. And this flea market type atmospher dosn't mean you will not miss out on the next Angry Birds, it means you run a higher risk of the next Angry Birds not being found so the market can grow. Because the average Joe Consumer isn't going to page through hundreds of submissions of clone, shovelware and IP infringment and find the one good gem in sewage that your "market place" becomes when you do that. All you are doing is cementing Revio's position in the mobile market because if they have to wade through the garbage they are going to use the search function and find Angry Birds XIII - Inverse Axis Syndrom.

There seems to be alot of copycats in general. I don't use windows for my phone, but on the ios there seems to be mario/pokemon like ripoffs. I present to you Mole Kart! There also a pokemon one.

All quite true. A steady hand is needed to make sure that the little guy who is actually trying hard has a chance to be seen against the little guys just trying to make a fast buck.

"eh, we want to follow the rules, but not following them will help sell our phones"

This reminds me of the old days of Android.

Mobile in general is dropping the ball on infringement. Its so easy to spot there is no reason all Mobile companies should let this stuff stay on their stores.

"No one likes Nintendo games" they said