Nintendo appeals Flash card case

Platform holder Nintendo is to back the appeal of prosecutors who have said they intend to challenge a recent court ruling from a French judge in favour of Flash card manufacturer Divineo.

Upon dismissing the case on Monday, the judge accused Nintendo of deliberately locking out developers from its range of hardware, adding that it should adopt a system more like Microsoft’s Windows where anyone is free to develop applications that run on the OS.

Divineo has already been subject to a successful prosecution in Hong Kong, where it is still prohibited from manufacturing, marketing or exporting its DS products. It was also at the time ordered to pay Nintendo €45m in damages – a sum that the platform holder has yet to receive.

Nintendo is extremely disappointed with the decision by Paris’ Criminal Court to find Max Louarn, his company, Divineo, and other co-defendants not guilty in the criminal case involving the sale and distribution of game copying devices,” a statement sent to MCV explains.

Nintendo welcomes the Prosecutor’s decision to Appeal the Judgment. As a victim Nintendo will join his Appeal. Nintendo supports action against the distributors of such devices.

Nintendo maintains that infringement of its intellectual property rights, on its trademarks, software, its technical prevention measures and its video games is causing damage to the whole video game industry, preventing developers from gaining the full benefit of their hard work and creativity, but also to the customers who expect the highest standards and integrity from products bearing the Nintendo name.”