Article is in Norwegian.
According to Norwegian gaming site PressFire.no who has followed the case for two years now, Nintendo has won the court case against Norway and Germany. The decision has been appealed, but the next round won't happen for up to a year and a half. Both the Norwegian and German authorities are very unhappy with the outcome. Apparently they can't say too much about the contents of the case thanks to restrictions when multiple countries work together like this.
Some other points for those that hasn't followed the case:
- Norway is a part of the European Economic Community, which means they share many EU laws.
- PressFire.no and Norway's Consumer Rights Council tested the eShop for consumer unfriendly practices and found Nintendo does not allow cancellation of pre-orders at all, even before the game is released, which is in violation of Norwegian and EU law.
- Nintendo in their reply say they don't agree with the council, and that they aren't breaking any laws. They say that, because you can pre-load the game instantly after pre-ordering, the "performance has begun" (which is the wording of the law), and the sales contract is fulfilled.
- The Council however, says you can't claim "performance has begun" until the game is playable, even though you've pre-loaded it.
- Nintendo was promptly reported to the Norwegian authorities, who formally made an "enforcement request" to Germany, as Nintendo of Europe is based there. Germany dragged Nintendo to court to make them abide by the laws.
- The trial hearings started in November, and a verdict was made before christmas - however due to the closed door approach it wasn't known until earlier this month.
Close if old.
