Nintendo wins anti-piracy lawsuit against file sharing site

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Nintendo has successfully concluded its legal battle against Dstorage, the operator of the French file-sharing platform 1fichier.com, which it accused of hosting pirated copies of its games. 

A French court ruled in favor of Nintendo, holding 1fichier.com liable for failing to remove or block unauthorized copies of Nintendo titles available on its platform. 

This decision reinforces the responsibility of file-hosting services in preventing piracy and highlights Nintendo’s aggressive stance against intellectual property violations.

The dispute dates back to 2021 when a Paris court initially ordered Dstorage to pay Nintendo a penalty of $1.13 million for not taking action against pirated games hosted on its servers despite multiple warnings. 

Dstorage contested the ruling and filed an appeal, but the court reaffirmed its stance in favor of Nintendo. 

In a final legal step, the case was escalated to the highest judicial authority in France, which also ruled against Dstorage. This further cements the company’s legal obligation to remove infringing content without requiring a court order.

In its press release distributed to media outlets such as Eurogamer and GBATemp, Nintendo welcomed the court’s decision, emphasizing its broader significance for the gaming industry. 

The company stated that the ruling sets a precedent that prevents file-hosting services like 1fichier.com from arguing that they need a judicial directive before complying with takedown requests for copyrighted content. 

This victory is just one of many legal battles Nintendo has intensified in recent years as part of its broader crackdown on piracy and intellectual property infringement. 

In 2024, the company took legal action against Yuzu, a Nintendo Switch emulator, which ultimately led to the emulator’s complete shutdown. 

Additionally, Nintendo pursued litigation against Ryujinx, another Switch emulator, and filed a lawsuit against the developers of Palworld, accusing them of infringing on its patents. 

With the anticipated release of the Nintendo Switch 2 later this year, the company appears to be intensifying its legal battles to curb piracy before the launch of its next-generation console.

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