In a shared request submitted on March 4, 2024, video game company Nintendo of America Inc. and Tropic Haze LLC have agreed to resolve a copyright infringement lawsuit filed in the District of Rhode Island. The settlement terms stipulate that Tropic Haze is obligated to pay Nintendo $2,400,000.
According to the filing, Tropic Haze admits violating Nintendo’s intellectual property rights. The filing does not specify the details of the violation. Still, it refers to the “Final Judgment and Permanent Injunction,” which contains this information and is not accessible to the public.
As part of the settlement, Tropic Haze is also permanently prohibited from engaging in any activity that infringes on Nintendo’s intellectual property rights. The details of this prohibition are also outlined in the “Final Judgement and Permanent Injunction” section. It’s all a short read if you’re interested.
The agreement includes several compromises by Tropic Haze. They give up their right to appeal the decision or dispute its validity in any manner. Furthermore, they admit they were correctly served with the lawsuit, agree that the settlement amount is fair, and accept the factual conclusions outlined in the confidential “Final Judgement and Permanent Injunction.”
While many think Nintendo had no right to sue, in the eyes of the law, Yuzu got off lightly. To put it into layman’s terms, Nintendo sees that their game was downloaded over a million times ‘with help’ from Yuzu (arguable how emulation works). In the eyes of the law, that is viewed as a lost sale, so Nintendo lost $70 every time that game was downloaded.
It would be argued down to a much lower number in court, but that would still be above where it ended, and Yuzu would have lost a ton of money in legal fees. Instead, Nintendo gave Yuzu a very kind way out. $2 for every download, and they can no longer infringe on Nintendo’s products.
The legal document indicates that both sides had lawyers and fully grasped the terms of the deal. While this may be a sad ending for Yuzu, it was better than what could have happened.
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