Nintendo points finger at pirate countries, asks for help

Not only have sales of Nintendo products continued to rise, but so has piracy of those products. In a report to the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative, the body specializing in international trade agreements, Nintendo listed six countries where piracy of the Wii and DS are out of control.

The Special 301 process looks at the adequacy and effectiveness of intellectual property rights worldwide, and countries are then classified according to the frequency and severity of their violations of IP rights.

Nintendo listed China, Korea, Brazil, Mexico, Spain, and Paraguay as major bastions of Nintendo piracy. The main problems Nintendo cited are game copiers and mod chips, and asked the USTR to help in dealing with the governments of these countries.

Nintendo noted Korea's recent improvements in piracy enforcement, evinced by this year's customs raid which resulted in the seizure of more than 75,000 game copiers. Nintendo targeted the makers of the R4 DS game copier, and classed them as a "repeat offender" in international piracy.