{"id":881578,"date":"2026-10-14T03:56:12","date_gmt":"2026-10-14T03:56:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/881578\/"},"modified":"2026-10-14T03:56:12","modified_gmt":"2026-10-14T03:56:12","slug":"esa-targets-anbernic-emulation-handhelds-as-superfake-piracy-enablers","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/881578\/","title":{"rendered":"ESA targets Anbernic emulation handhelds as “superfake” piracy enablers"},"content":{"rendered":"

For years, Chinese hardware manufacturers have carved out a market niche with an array of handheld Android gaming devices<\/a> focused on retro emulation and\/or more modern game-streaming capabilities. Now, though, a major game industry trade group is targeting one of those manufacturers, Anbernic, asking the US Trade Representative (USTR) to add the company to its list of \u201cNotorious Markets\u201d<\/a> that \u201cengage in or facilitate substantial copyright piracy or trademark counterfeiting.\u201d<\/p>\n

TorrentFreak<\/a> was among the first to notice the request from the Entertainment Software Association<\/a> (ESA), which was submitted to the USTR last week. In it, the US trade group\u2014which represents major publishers including Nintendo, Microsoft, PlayStation, Amazon, Epic, EA, Ubisoft, and more<\/a>\u2014notes that Anbernic devices \u201care routinely offered or shipped with removable memory cards preloaded with hundreds or thousands of unauthorized copies of copyright-protected video games published by ESA members.\u201d<\/p>\n

While many online sellers do include an SD card full of ROMs alongside emulation hardware of all types, Anbernic itself does not appear to do the same<\/a> when selling directly from its website. Regardless, the ESA argues that these ROM-laden Anbernic devices selling through \u201cnormal retail channels\u201d help to \u201cnormalize hardware-based piracy by delivering illicit catalogues through a polished consumer product.\u201d This, the ESA says, meets the threshold for a \u201csuperfake,\u201d an ill-defined designation that applies to \u201chigh-quality counterfeit trademark goods \u2026 on a commercial scale.\u201d<\/p>\n

Being included on the USTR\u2019s Notorious Market List wouldn\u2019t bring any additional direct legal consequences for a company like Anbernic. However, the USTR says<\/a> the list \u201cencourages the responsible authorities to step up efforts to combat piracy and counterfeiting\u201d and notes that the list itself \u201cincrease[s] public awareness and help market operators and governments prioritize intellectual property enforcement efforts that protect American businesses and their workers.\u201d Inclusion on the list could also presage a Section 301 investigation<\/a> that could lead to legal consequences or restrictive\u00a0import controls on the devices.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"For years, Chinese hardware manufacturers have carved out a market niche with an array of handheld Android gaming…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":881579,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[31],"tags":[74],"class_list":["post-881578","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-technology","tag-technology"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/881578","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=881578"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/881578\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/881579"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=881578"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=881578"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=881578"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}