Bethesda Clobbers Seller of Stolen Fallout 3 Copies

Andy Chalk

One Flag, One Fleet, One Cat
Nov 12, 2002
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Bethesda Clobbers Seller of Stolen Fallout 3 Copies


Awesome Games, an independent videogame seller in the U.K., has reached an out-of-court settlement with Fallout 3 [http://www.bethsoft.com], which the retailer claimed it thought had been "imported."

Awesome Games bought a number of copies of Fallout 3 from an "unknown seller," according to an MCV report, despite the fact that the game hadn't actually been released at the time the purchase was made. Owner Ahnes Qureshi claimed he believed the games were "imported stock" but Bethesda wasn't buying it and hauled him off to court.

"We take such matters as the theft of our stock very seriously and will rigorously pursue any individual or company who perpetrates such acts," said Sean Brennan of Bethesda. "While it may be tempting to buy games from unknown sources and to release games early, it's just not worth the risk, as Mr. Qureshi will attest."

Mr. Qureshi will indeed attest to that because, as the saying goes, he got his bell rung pretty good. The settlement requires him to pay damages to Bethesda and injunctions were issued to prevent his company from engaging in such behavior in the future.

"I have learned a lesson from this and I apologize unreservedly," Qureshi said. "It has cost me dearly and I will certainly never repeat this mistake. I would advise other indies not to buy from unofficial sources or they may end up in the same trouble I did."

Let this be a lesson to you too, kids: Crime, and/or being hugely stupid and/or willfully blind, does not pay.


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Jamash

Top Todger
Jun 25, 2008
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I would like to think that after judgement was passed, that there was some cheesy gloating done by the Judge, Barrister or Bethesda representative.

Something along the lines of
Ha ha! You're not so awesome now, are you Mr. Qureshi?
If it was me, as part of the settlement, I would force him to change the name of his shop to Not So Awesome Games.
 

DaxStrife

Late Reviewer
Nov 29, 2007
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Good article; it's bad enough when good games are pirated, it's even worse when they're stolen just to be sold.
I'm feeling a little sympathy towards Mr. Qureshi because he might have just been dumb and hopeful, but I guess he got what he deserved. Maybe if he had cooperated at the start and offered to give up his illegal supplier he could have gotten off without the big fines.
 

Mask of 1000 Faces

New member
Feb 28, 2009
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Ouch, so much for a little extra profit eh?

"Let this be a lesson to you too, kids: Crime, and/or being hugely stupid and/or willfully blind, does not pay."

And THAT has been copy/pasted to the notepad file of quotes!

Thanks for the Article!