07.03.2025

The French Supreme Court has ruled in favor of Nintendo in a legal case against a website hosting pirated versions of its games

A significant legal victory for Nintendo was achieved against the French filehosting company, Dstorage.

On February 26, 2025, the French Supreme Court ruled that Dstorage was "liable for failing to remove access to unauthorised copies of Nintendo games" from its platform, 1fichier.com.

As a result of this ruling, other filesharing platforms in Europe could face legal challenges and fines if they don't comply with requests to remove pirated games.

The legal proceedings began in 2021 when Nintendo sued Dstorage for not taking down unauthorised games from 1fichier.com.

After an appeal, the Paris Court of Appeals in April 2023 ordered Dstorage to compensate Nintendo with €422,750 and cover €25,000 in legal expenses.

Dstorage escalated the matter to the French Supreme Court, arguing that content removal required a court order, but this argument was unsuccessful.

Nintendo expressed satisfaction with the Court's decision, emphasizing its importance for the gaming industry. The company pointed out that the ruling prevents filehosts from insisting on a court order before removing infringing content, thereby affirming rights holders' ability to demand the takedown of pirated materials.

Nintendo also noted another relevant decision on January 15, 2025, where a major French bank legally ended a payment processing contract with 1fichier.com due to inadequate anti-piracy measures. This reinforces the stance against using platforms like 1fichier.com as safe havens for illegal content.

Recently, Nintendo has intensified actions against piracy. In November, it requested a US court to issue subpoenas to several companies regarding a lawsuit involving alleged piracy by James 'Archbox Williams'.

The company has pursued legal measures against Ryan Michael Daly of Modded Hardware, which distributes modded consoles and games.

In February 2024, a lawsuit was filed by Nintendo against the developers of the Switch emulator Yuzu. In a subsequent settlement, Tropic Haze agreed to pay $2.4 million and transfer the domain to Nintendo of America.

Furthermore, development of the Switch emulator Ryujinx reportedly ceased last year after Nintendo's request.

gamesindustry.biz
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