Nintendo wins court battle against site used to pirate its games

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The Paris Court of Appeals has sided with Nintendo in a dispute with sharehosting website operator Dstorage.

Nintendo released a statement saying the court ruled Dstorage was liable for failing to remove or block access to pirated copies on Nintendo games distributed via filehosting website 1fichier.com.

The platform holder had previously demanded Dstorage take down any unauthorised Nintendo games stored on its site. When this was not done, the company took legal action, with the Paris Judicial Court giving the same verdict in May 2021.

The Court of Appeals has now ordered Dstorage to pay €442,750 to Nintendo in compensation, as well as €25,000 to cover legal fees.

Dstorage has the option to appeal against the decision.

In the meantime, Nintendo is declaring this a victory, positioning it as a strong precedent for anti-piracy cases across the games industry.

"Nintendo is pleased with the decision of the Paris Court of Appeals, as it again sends a clear message that in refusing to remove or withdraw access to unauthorised copies of video games despite prior notification, sharehosting services such as Dstorage (1fichier) are liable under French law and must remove or block access to such content and may be liable to pay compensation to those rights holders whose intellectual property rights have been infringed," the company wrote in its statement.

"The Court’s finding of liability against Dstorage is significant not only for Nintendo, but also for the entire games industry. It will prevent sharehosters like 1Fichier from claiming that a prior decision from a court will be needed before pirated content has to be taken down, and additionally the Court decision confirms what rights holders have to give notice of when claiming that notified content infringes copyright or trademark rights."