Nintendo Wins Lawsuit Against Pirate Who Streamed Stolen Switch Games
▼ Summary
– Nintendo has won its lawsuit against Jesse Keighin (EveryGameGuru), who streamed pirated and emulated Switch games.
– Keighin was defiant, boasting about having numerous backup channels and instructing viewers on how to pirate games.
– He evaded legal service and destroyed evidence, leading the court to serve him via email and relatives’ addresses.
– The court ordered Keighin to pay $17,500 in damages and issued an injunction to prevent future copyright infringement.
– Some of Nintendo’s requests, such as destroying circumvention devices and applying the injunction to third parties, were denied by the court.
After a lengthy legal battle, Nintendo has secured a decisive victory in its lawsuit against a streamer who broadcast pirated and emulated Switch games. The defendant, known online as EveryGameGuru, must now pay significant damages and is legally barred from future copyright infringement activities.
The case centered on Jesse Keighin, the individual behind the EveryGameGuru persona, whose defiant attitude drew considerable attention. Even after his streaming channels were terminated, he reportedly encouraged his audience on methods for pirating games and showed little regard for the legal proceedings. Nintendo’s initial court filing highlighted a letter from Keighin where he allegedly boasted about having “a thousand burner channels” and claimed he could “do this all day.”
Throughout the lawsuit, Keighin appeared unconcerned. In a social media post, he wrote, “Should have done more research. You might run a corporation. I run the streets.” His resistance extended to the legal process itself; court documents indicate he destroyed potential evidence and actively evaded personal service of court papers. As a result, the court authorized service via email and by delivering documents to the homes of his mother, grandmother, and partner.
A federal court in Colorado has now issued a final judgment, ordering Keighin to pay $17,500 in damages to Nintendo. This amount is notably lower than the potential maximum; the company could have sought up to $1.5 million given that the piracy involved ten separate games. The court also granted a permanent injunction, legally prohibiting him from engaging in any future infringement of Nintendo’s intellectual property.
Nintendo had pursued additional legal remedies that the court ultimately rejected. A request to “destroy all circumvention devices” was denied, with the judge deeming the demand unclear and unreasonable, noting that such tools are typically software applications readily available online. The company also sought to extend the injunction to third parties collaborating with Keighin, but this was refused due to a lack of specificity in identifying who those parties might be.
(Source: Nintendo Everything)
