Nintendo takes China, others to task over piracy

With the overwhelming success of the Wii and DS in recent years, Nintendo has a bit more clout to throw around. The company is looking to find out just how far that clout will go, as today it asked the United States government to include a half-dozen countries where piracy is problematic in its Special 301 report. Countries included in the report are investigated for copyright violations and could be subject to US trade sanctions.

Saying that piracy of its products is on the rise, Nintendo today announced that it has asked The Office of the United States Trade Representative to call out China, Brazil, Korea, Mexico, Paraguay, and Spain in its annual report. Although the company listed specific grievances with each country, the overarching complaints dealt with "game copiers" and mod chips, which are used to circumvent piracy countermeasures and/or territorial lockout restrictions. Nintendo also framed the mod chip issue as a parental concern.

"It is important for parents to note that if users of circumvention devices are children, they may be exposed to unsuitable content downloaded from the Internet and played on their Nintendo systems," Nintendo of America's senior director of antipiracy efforts, Jodi Daugherty, said in a statement.

The USTR is expected to release its Special 301 report in April.