Nintendo of America, Inc. v. Dragon Pacific International George Sheng

We decide whether an award of both statutory copyright infringement damages and trademark infringement damages for the sale of video game cartridges constitutes an inappropriate “double recovery.”

I

George Sheng, the sole proprietor of Dragon Pacific International, imports electronic products from China. Nintendo of America, Inc.’s (“Nintendo”) principal business is the marketing of hardware and software cartridges for its home video game system. In 1990, Sheng began importing and selling video cartridges that were compatible with Nintendo’s system.

The cartridges sold by Nintendo usually contain one game. The cartridges sold by Sheng contained numerous games per cartridge, and came in three varieties: thirty-one games in one cartridge (which contained ten Nintendo copyrighted games), forty-two games in one cartridge (which contained eleven Nintendo copyrighted games), and fifty-two games in one cartridge (which contained twelve Nintendo copyrighted games). Sheng infringed a total of thirteen separate Nintendo copyrights. The district court found that Sheng acted “intentionally, willfully, and with actual knowledge that the multiple-game cartridges infringed Nintendo’s…