Nintendo Sues Majicon Vendors; Opens Piracy Snitch Line

An example of a Majicon device.

Nintendo and 54 other companies filed suit in Tokyo Distrct Court last year to halt the import and sale of "Majicon" devices, flash devices like R4 Revolution that facilitate piracy on the DS. They won the suit in February, but Majicon devices continue to be sold at retailers.

Today, Nintendo issued a statement announcing that it and 54 other companies (presumably the same companies as from the initial lawsuit) have once again filed suit with Tokyo District Court for the halt of import and sales of the devices. This time, the suit seeks damages against resellers of the devices.

The company states that, following the February verdict, it sent notice to resellers who continued to sell the devices ordering that sales be stopped and that they pay damages. These notices, which were sent out in April (a sample notice can be seen here) were ignored, prompting the new legal measures.

Nintendo's statement did not provide specific reseller names.

Nintendo is letting the general public get in on its fight against piracy. The company opened today a special website which users can access to report piracy, including sales of Majicon devices and instances of game data uploads. A secure form at the page asks for a specific date of violation and a homepage or URL for the offending vendor.

A partial list of the 54 companies working with Nintendo in this initiative can be seen in Nintendo's statement. Included are major third parties like Namco Bandai, Sega, Capcom and Square Enix.