Nintendo files appeal to U.S. Trade Representative against piracy

Nintendo is stepping up its campaign against piracy as it recently filed a “Special 301” process which appeals to several governments around the world to take a more aggressive stance against video game pirates. Several countries like China, Korea, Brazil, and Mexico were mentioned in the report and states specific cases of illegal activity monitored within each country. More details about this in the full article.

Nintendo has recently appealed to the U.S. Trade Representative, noting the growing issue of video game piracy in several countries. A “Special 301” process was filed stating that specific governments around the world should take a more aggressive stance against piracy.

Nintendo stated specific cases such as China being the primary source of manufactured pirated Nintendo Wii and DS games. Other countries like Korea topped the list as the leader of illegally distributed games via the Internet, while Brazil and Mexico is currently saturating the market with counterfeit Nintendo software.

Here are just some of the numbers spelled out by Nintendo of America‘s Senior Director of anti-piracy Jode Daugherty regarding how much the company has suffered from piracy cases in the previous year:

We estimate that in 2007, Nintendo, together with its publishers and developers, suffered nearly $975 million USD worldwide in lost sales as a result of piracy. Nintendo will continue to work with governments around the world to aggressively curtail this illegal activity.

While no solid plans have been formulated so far on how the fight against piracy will be spearheaded, Nintendo is already closely collaborating with the governments of different countries to help solve the issue.

Via IGN Australia