We’ve all seen those laughable FBI Warnings on everything from VHS tapes to Blu-ray Discs, but now it appears Nintendo has taken the law into its own hands. Sort of.
Nintendo and Pokemon USA have just concluded a campaign to take a chunk out of what is apparently a multi-million dollar industry counterfeiting Pokemon trading cards. The anti-piracy program was apparently a success (results below), begging the question of when, not whether, other game publishers will take similar action.
After all, Ubisoft recently signed a deal whereby the company owns the Tom Clancy brand and will make non-gaming products under that label. Will the house that Rainbow Six built suddenly go all vigilante on us? Look at Nintendo’s results below and decide for yourself.
On March 26, law enforcement officials in New York raided seven stores known to be selling fraudulent Pokemon Trading Card Game merchandise. Thousands of products were seized, and several arrests were made. In early April, one action at a production facility in China secured nearly 1.2 million counterfeit cards and investigations continue.
During the past 16 months, more than 47 million counterfeit products have been seized at production facilities in Thailand, Singapore, Poland, Italy, the Czech Republic, Australia and China. One 2007 seizure in China netted more than 26 million illegally produced cards.
Nintendo says that it, along with Pokemon, will continue to target the retailers and manufacturers trafficking in counterfeit Pokemon product.