A 24-year-old man from Australia has been fined $1.6m for copying and uploading New Super Mario Bros. Wii to the internet.

James Burt from Brisbane acquired an early copy of Nintendo’s new Mario game and uploaded it to the worldwide web.

The title was originally meant to be released on November 12, 2009, but Burt made it available for download from a website on November 6, 2009.

Burt agreed to pay $1.5m in damages to Nintendo and also cover the $100,000 court costs.

Nintendo quickly became aware of the breach and employed a forensic investigator who located Burt and identified him as the offender.

The company was then able to search Burt’s residence and locate evidence for the case, after obtaining a Federal Court search order on November 23.

Rose Lappin, Managing Director of Nintendo Australia, said the case was a victory against piracy.

“Piracy is massive and getting bigger and bigger but I think the courts are taking it more seriously now as you can see by this.”

“As an industry it’s a major problem and the cost is massive to the industry and to developers”

Source: The Daily Telegraph