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Nintendo of America and Its President Doug Bowser Are Suing Hacker Gary Bowser

Nintendo of America and its president Doug Bowser have filed a lawsuit against alleged Team Xecuter leader Gary Bowser for infringing on Nintendo’s copyright by creating and selling Nintendo Switch hacking devices. We’re not kidding.As reported by Polygon, this lawsuit was filed in Seattle court and aims to charge Bowser (not to be confused with Bowser, King of the Koopas) with two trafficking counts and one copyright violation. According to Nintendo, Bowser runs an “international pirate ring” that sells these Switch hacking devices that are designed to circumvent Nintendo’s security measures to run pirated Switch games.

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The lawsuit states Bowser has been creating and selling Nintendo hacking devices since at least 2013 with the Nintendo 3DS, and this isn’t the first time that Bowser has gotten in trouble with Nintendo. In 2020, Bowser and Team Xecuter’s Max Louarn were arrested and charged with 11 felony accounts.

This battle Nintendo is undertaking is part of its plan to stop the “serious, worsening international problem” of piracy. In the lawsuit, Nintendo states that Bowser’s actions “continue to put more than 79 million Nintendo Switch and Nintendo Switch Lite consoles at risk from piracy.”

Nintendo is looking to shut down Bowser’s operations and for damages that equate to $2,500 for each trafficked device and $150,000 for each copyright violation.Nintendo has no tolerance for those who are looking to infringe upon its copyright. In 2018, Nintendo was awarded $12 million following its lawsuit against two ROM hosting sites, and in 2020, it sued a TikTok influencer and OnlyFans star over Pokemon branding and merchandise.

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Adam Bankhurst is a news writer for IGN. You can follow him on Twitter @AdamBankhurst and on Twitch.