The video game industry is becoming more and more lucrative, and everyone is trying to get in on it. Including, apparently, the rapper Soulja Boy.
There’s just one teeny, tiny problem with his game plan: all of his consoles are complete knockoffs of existing video game consoles. One console in particular looks near-identical to Nintendo’s Gameboy Color, and Nintendo isn’t happy.
The “highlight” of Souljaboy’s consoles is that they all come pre-loaded with an assortment of games for consumers to play. The games, however, are copyrighted, which makes it illegal for Souljaboy to be selling them packaged into his overpriced knockoff consoles.
Nintendo has a notorious reputation of being viciously defensive of their intellectual property. From shutting down fan remakes of their games to going after emulation sites left and right, it was only a matter of time before Nintendo took notice of Souljaboy’s actions, and took action.
Souljaboy’s actions may have very well violated the Trademark Counterfeiting Act, and if Nintendo calls for criminal charges to be levied at him, he could face up to 10 years in prison. Repeat offenders can get up to 20 years, and given that all of Souljaboy’s consoles have pre-loaded copyrighted games, would he be considered a repeat offender?
