Case 1:24-cv-00082-JJM-LDADocument 1Filed 02/26/24Page 8 of 41 PageID #: 8
Yuzu, including new features to provide, platforms to launch on, and games to provide compatibility with, are made by Bunnei. Defendant is primarily responsible for causing the distribution of Yuzu, including on the project’s official website YUZU-EMU.ORG, on GITHUB.COM, and on third-party platforms such as Google Play.
21. Defendant, through the above channels of distribution, traffics in Yuzu, which circumvents technological measures on Nintendo Switch games, and which facilitates infringement of Nintendo’s copyrighted works on a massive national and international scale. Additionally, Defendant traffics in third-party software that circumvents technological measures on the Nintendo Switch console by linking to that software on Yuzu’s website. Defendant also is directly liable for the infringement of Bunnei and its other agents as discussed herein, and is secondarily liable for the infringement of Nintendo’s copyrighted games by Yuzu users.
FACTUAL BACKGROUND
22. Nintendo is a company and brand famous throughout the United States and the world, known by consumers of all ages for its video games, video game consoles, and video game characters.
23. For decades, Nintendo has been a leading developer and producer of video games and video game consoles. In 1983, Nintendo released the Family Computer in Japan and in 1985, released the Nintendo Entertainment System, or “NES,” in the United States, which introduced millions of consumers to now-classic games like Super Mario Bros., The Legend of Zelda, and Donkey Kong. The NES console also introduced millions of consumers to some of Nintendo’s original and long-lasting characters, including Mario and Luigi, Yoshi, Link, Donkey Kong, and Samus Aran. Over the ensuing decades, Nintendo followed up the popularity of the NES console with the release of such groundbreaking home video game consoles as the Super Nintendo Entertainment System (or “SNES”), Nintendo 64 (or “N64”), Nintendo GameCube, Wii, Wii U, and the Nintendo Switch, and groundbreaking handheld
8
