Nintendo Triumphs in Court Against French Game Piracy Service

Nintendo has achieved a significant legal victory against a French file-sharing service that facilitated the distribution of pirated video games. This decision is deemed crucial for the broader video game industry.

The protracted legal battle against Dstorage, the operator of the website 1fichier.com, concluded favorably for Nintendo. This service had been repeatedly unresponsive to Nintendo's requests to eliminate unauthorized copies of its games from its platform. Dstorage had appealed a previous ruling made in 2021 in favor of Nintendo, but its efforts were ultimately unsuccessful, as announced by the renowned Japanese gaming company.

In 2021, a French court ordered Dstorage to pay Nintendo EUR935,000 in damages due to the availability of pirated Nintendo games on its file-sharing site. Dstorage quickly contested this ruling, but in April 2023, it lost its appeal at a higher court. Subsequently, the company escalated the matter to the highest court in France, where it faced yet another defeat.

Nintendo's recent success follows a series of legal actions taken against game emulator services. In March 2024, the emulator Yuzu was shut down following a copyright lawsuit initiated by Nintendo. Similarly, in October of the same year, the Ryujinx emulator was removed after Nintendo contacted its developers. Unlike the earlier case of Dstorage, this situation did not require litigation. In 2021, a hacking service known as Bowser was compelled to pay a fine of $10 million for selling hacking kits that circumvented the protective measures of the Nintendo Switch. Additionally, the leader of the hacking group Xecuter received a prison sentence of 40 months.

While there has been no indication of legal repercussions such as imprisonment for Dstorage, Nintendo expressed satisfaction with the court's decision to hold the company accountable. The gaming giant emphasized that file-sharing services must promptly remove or restrict access to illegal content. Failure to comply renders them liable for compensation to rights holders whose intellectual property rights have been infringed.

Nintendo further articulated that this ruling holds significance not only for the company but for the entire gaming industry. It asserts that file-sharing services are now obligated to remove pirated content even without a court order. The court's decision reinforces the rights that intellectual property holders must assert when they claim that reported content violates copyright or trademark laws.

In a broader context, Nintendo has a message for consumers: downloading pirated copies of Nintendo games poses risks that may adversely affect the functionality and overall experience of legitimate Nintendo games on authentic Nintendo hardware.