Andre Yoskowitz
14 Feb 2008 16:42
It seems that Nintendo of America has asked the U.S. Trade Representative to "encourage" international governments to take a harsher stance against piracy of Nintendo video games and systems around the world.
Filing a "Special 301" process with the Trade Representative means the group will "solicit input from the public to underscore specific areas of concern."
Although China remains a primary source for the manufacturing of pirated Nintendo console games, the report says Korea is emerging as the leader for distributing the games over the Internet. The report also said that "despite aggressive anti-piracy actions taken by the company", Brazil, Mexico, Paraguay and Hong Kong remain saturated with pirated goods or serve as major "transshipment points for global distribution of illegal goods."
"The unprecedented momentum enjoyed by Nintendo DS and Wii makes Nintendo an attractive target for counterfeiters," said Jodi Daugherty, Nintendo of America's senior director of anti-piracy. "We estimate that in 2007, Nintendo, together with its publishers and developers, suffered nearly $975 million USD worldwide in lost sales as a result of piracy. Nintendo will continue to work with governments around the world to aggressively curtail this illegal activity."