Gaming Industry IP News: Switch pirate sued by Nintendo, Tencent casts shadow on Sony lawsuit, World of Warcraft private server petitions Blizzard for a license, and more

The video game industry continues to see significant activity in the area of intellectual property law. This month’s newsletter highlights recent developments in ongoing cases as well as new disputes.

Switch Pirate Caught in Nintendo’s Sights

A moderator of a Nintendo Switch piracy subreddit is being sued for $4.5 million in damages for copyright violations, reports GamesIndustry.biz. According to the filings in the Western District of Washington, the alleged pirate, James C. Williams, is purportedly involved with a network of websites and organizations that deal in pirated Nintendo Switch video games and circumvention software for playing the games. While these damages may seem substantial, Nintendo is reported to have given Williams multiple opportunities dating back to March 2024 to cease his activities. Further, Nintendo only just recently specified the damages it would seek. The $4.5 million figure comes as part of a motion for default judgement as, according to the filing, the defendant has failed to respond to the complaint. It remains to be determined how the judge will rule on the motion, but this case is another in a long line of cautionary tales for pirates of Nintendo’s IP. The case also underscores that cease-and-desist orders from Nintendo are frequently more than mere posturing.

Tencent Attempts to Cast a Shadow over Sony’s Light of Motiram Lawsuit

TheGamePost (TGP) has reported a small update on the ongoing lawsuit between video game and tech giants Sony and Tencent. In the original filing, Sony pushed for a preliminary and permanent injunction against Tencent, which would prevent any distribution or further promotion of Light of Motiram. In response, Tencent filed a motion to dismiss on the basis that the case is not yet ripe, because Sony has not been harmed. Tencent’s argument was that, because the game’s release has been pushed back to 2027, Sony has not suffered any harm. However, Sony’s response focuses on how, regardless of whether the game is out, Tencent’s marketing for Light of Motiram has already damaged Sony’s Horizon brand by being  a “blatant knock-off.” While Tencent may be correct, insofar as Tencent has not directly profited off of any association with Horizon through direct game sales, Sony is also well within their rights to point to the potential damage caused to its Horizon trademark and goodwill (regardless of the lack of sales). If Sony can establish that these damages are measurable, such as brand dilution due to Light or Motiram, then it is possible that Tencent’s assertion of ripeness won’t bear much fruit.

World of Warcraft Private Server Petitions Blizzard for a License

PCGamer reports that a World of Warcraft (WoW) private server team, Turtle WoW, has asked WoW developer Blizzard to create a licensing framework for Turtle WoW, and other servers, to continue to operate in the space. This was done in response to a copyright infringement suit filed by Blizzard against Turtle WoW in August 2025 in the Central District of California. Turtle WoW is another in a line of WoW “classic” private servers that Blizzard has targeted for shutdown due to copyright infringement over the past decade. A “classic” server is a version of WoW that replicates the game in the state in which it was originally released back in 2004. For many, these servers were once the only way to experience the game in a way that was no longer available. However, starting in 2019, Blizzard began to offer their own “classic” style servers to paying customers. Although Blizzard has never publicly granted legal permission to private servers, it has historically focused its legal enforcement efforts on those servers that receive money from users. Turtle WoW appears to be no different, as it also offers services in exchange for “donations.” Turtle WoW, likely in an attempt to garner public support, is framing Blizzard’s actions as unreasonable, and comparing itself to services offered by private servers for other games that are available through a licensing framework with the other game’s respective developers. Given the substantial overlap between Turtle WoW and the servers actively being offered by Blizzard, it is unlikely that this plea will sway the WoW developer. At the very least, this case represents another datapoint in the ongoing dialogue relating to the ownership of digitally purchased games and what happens when a developer starts to sunset a service.

Roblox Developer sues Fortnite Developer over Brainrot Game

In a somewhat strange case, Games.GG has reported that developer Spyder Games (the developer behind “Steal a Brainrot” on Roblox) has sued developer Thomas Van Der Voort for copyright infringement based on his alleged copycat video game “Stealing Brainrots,” which is available through Fortnite. This development is rather interesting, as this is not a lawsuit between the Roblox developers, Roblox Corp., and Fortnite developer Epic Games, but instead between two developers who use each respective game as a platform for creating user generated content (UGC). Spyder has accused Thomas of impermissibly borrowing “interface, level design, and animation” elements from “Steal a Brainrot.” While this is not the first such lawsuit over copyrights associated with UGC (Blizzard and Valve once had legal disputes over the rights to the “DotA” name), this does appear to be one of the first times the developers of UGC have engaged in legal action for in-game mechanics.

Nintendo’s Controversial Patents Prompt the USPTO to Take Action

Lastly, in perhaps the most surprising news this month, IGN reported that the USPTO has ordered the reexamination of a patent granted to Nintendo last month that has come under significant public scrutiny (as detailed in this Snippets article).  USPTO Director John A. Squires, took the exceedingly rare action to initiate a reexamination of the patent. Typically, a reexamination is initiated by a patent owner seeking to inoculate a patent against newly uncovered prior art or by a third party seeking to invalidate a competitor’s patent. Instead, here, the director ordered sua sponte reexamination. Accordingly, the patent will be reviewed, and Nintendo will be given an opportunity to defend the issued claims of the patent or otherwise amend the claims, in light of prior art provided by the director. It’ll likely be some time before we know the outcome of the reexamination, but this is a reminder that the USPTO can take action, when deemed necessary, to scrutinize potentially questionable issued patents.