/>iOn July 8, 2025, the Jiangsu High Court announced a verdict in favor of Nintendo against an unnamed defendant in a copyright infringement case. The defendant sold over 500,000 “Single-Player Red and Blue” retro game consoles priced at 78 RMB with 14 pre-installed infringing games (out of 500 games) and another 10,000+ “Premium Octagonal Gift Box” game consoles priced at 178 RMB with 16 pre-installed infringing games (out of 500 games). The Court award Nintendo 200,000 RMB (about $28,000 USD) and an injunction.
The court held that games such as “Mario Bros.” created by Nintendo have certain storylines, integrating multiple creative means such as directing, screenwriting, art, and music. Their forms of expression and creative process are highly similar to movies, and their overall images can be identified as other audiovisual works stipulated in Article 17 of the Copyright Law and are protected by law. The registration certificate and other evidence in the case can prove that the copyright of the works involved belongs to Nintendo in accordance with the law. After comparison, the Court determined that the defendant sold game consoles without permission that contained multiple games developed by Nintendo, and its behavior infringed Nintendo’s distribution rights for related works.
It was found that among the 500 games built into the consoles sold by the defendant, infringing games accounted for 4.8%. However, the plaintiff Nintendo failed to provide evidence to prove its actual losses due to infringement or the profits of the unnamed defendant from infringement. The court ruled that the defendant should immediately stop selling products that infringe Nintendo’s copyright, and comprehensively considered the type, popularity, originality of the works involved, the nature and duration of the defendant’s infringement, the sales scope of the products involved, and other factors, and determined that the defendant should compensate Nintendo for economic losses of 200,000 RMB. The judgment has come into effect.
In contrast, statutory damages in the US for copyright infringement can be up to $150,000 per work if willful. Assuming a complete overlap between pre-installed games on the consoles, 16 works could yield up to $2,400,000 in the US without evidence of the infringer’s profit or the copyright owner’s losses.
The Court stated,
Some lawless elements have taken advantage of players’ nostalgia for the “Family Console” and have been selling copycat machines that claim to allow players to “relive their childhood dreams with one machine.” This has not only squeezed the operating margins of legitimate operators and genuine licensed products, damaged the intellectual property ecology and innovation momentum of the gaming industry, but also disrupted the fair competition market environment.
Maintaining a good market order and industrial ecology requires the joint efforts of many parties. Market players must abide by the bottom line of the law and deeply realize that infringement of intellectual property rights is not a way to make money. Any behavior that crosses the legal red line for profit will face legal sanctions. For game enthusiasts, they should also carefully consider legality when purchasing game products, and never buy infringing products because of low prices. Every rational choice you make is a contribution to protecting originality and maintaining market fairness.
The full text of the announcement is available here.
