Owner of defunct ROM site ordered to "permanently destroy" all unauthorised Nintendo games

Game over.

A court has ordered the owner of a defunct ROM site to "permanently destroy" all unauthorised Nintendo games they have access to.

As reported by TorrentFreak, a California district judge ordered Matthew Storman, owner of currently offline RomUniverse, to "permanently destroy all unauthorised Nintendo games or other unauthorised copies of Nintendo's intellectual property including movies, books, and music" no later than 17th August.

Storman must file a declaration, under penalty of perjury, with the California federal court "certifying his compliance with these terms" by 20th August.

In late May, Storman was ordered to pay $2.1m in damages for copyright and trademark infringement when running RomUniverse, after Nintendo of America sued him back in September 2019.

Storman was ordered to pay the fee in monthly installments of $50, due to his unemployment, but he missed his first payment. Nintendo then filed for a permanent injunction in order to prevent Storman from reviving the site. This was granted last week.

The injunction means Storman is barred from a long list of acts that block RomUniverse's return in any meaningful way.

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Wesley Yin-Poole

Wesley Yin-Poole

Editor  |  wyp100

Wesley is Eurogamer's editor. He likes news, interviews, and more news. He also likes Street Fighter more than anyone can get him to shut up about it.