Nintendo has just won a battle that began several years ago against the company Dstorage, the parent company of the French file hosting site 1fichier. The Court of Paris recognized the responsibility of Dstorage in the distribution of pirated copies of the manufacturer’s games.
While Nintendo has just declared war on the creator of the Zelda Breath of The Wild multiplayer mode, the Japanese manufacturer has just win a legal battle that began in 2021.
At that time, BigN decided to sue the company Dstorage, the parent company of several sites including 1fichier.com, a site specializing in file hosting. The manufacturer blamed Dstorage for not having deleted or blocked access to pirated copies of Nintendo games distributed on 1fichier.
After its clear refusal to remove the content mentioned by Nintendo, the company was sentenced at first instance to a fine of €935,500. The Tribunal de Grande Instance of Paris had declared that “file hosting services like 1fichier were responsible for blocking access to pirated content”.
Also read: Nintendo – British justice blocks access to pirated Switch ROMs
Nintendo wins its lawsuit against Dstorage and 1fichier
Unsurprisingly, Dstorage appealed this decision. This Tuesday, April 18, 2023, we have the end of the story. The Paris Court of Appeal has decided to reject the appeal of Dstorage and side with Nintendo. The court ordered Dstorage to pay BigN €442,750 in compensationas well as €25,000 to cover the legal costs incurred.
If Dstorage still has the possibility of appealing this judgment, Nintendo is already savoring this victory:
“Nintendo welcomes the decision of the Paris Court of Appeal, because it once again sends a clear message: by refusing to remove or block access to unauthorized copies of video games despite prior notification, the services of hosting and sharing companies such as Dstorage (1fichier) are responsible under French law and must remove or block access to this content, and may be required to pay compensation to rights holders whose intellectual property has been violated” , Nintendo said in an official statement.
Ironically, remember that in 2018, 1fichier.com filed a complaint against the Ministry of Culture to defend its right to host pirate files. 1fichier’s lawyer declared at the time that the site was only an intermediary, not comparable to a live illegal download site.
Source: Eurogamer