Games giants sue Yahoo! over ‘thieves market’

Three games giants have filed a lawsuit against Yahoo! over alleged sales of pirated goods on its site. Nintendo, Electronic Arts and Sega accuse the online retailer of selling counterfeit copies of computer games and devices to copy games through its auction and sales sites. The companies filed the suit in US District Court for the Northern District of California on Tuesday. They are seeking an injunction against the sales, damages of $100,000 per copyright violation, and $2,500 for each sale of the hardware devices. "Yahoo! has created a virtual flea market for thieves to sell stolen property," an Electronic Arts representative told AP. "If there was a store in the mall selling counterfeit copies of games, we'd call the police and that store owner would be held accountable for it." ® Related stories Retailers not as trustworthy as high street rivals eBay in e-trouble after copied MS software is sold on its seat Con man given the boot by eBay