Nintendo has successfully blocked a French file storage site from hosting pirated games

The French court has decided in favour of Nintendo in a case involving a file storage site and its handling of pirated Nintendo games.

The decision had previously been made by the Paris Court of Appeals back in April 2023, with the court finding that Dstorage SAS was responsible for failing to remove or block access to pirated copies of Nintendo games distributed via its website 1fichier.com.

The court ordered Dstorage to pay €442,750  to Nintendo in compensation, plus €27,000 to cover legal expenses, but the company decided to appeal the verdict, rather than accept it.

Now the Cour de Cassation, France’s highest judiciary court, has decided that Dstorage SAS is indeed liable for the storage of unauthorised copies of Nintendo games, and its failure to remove or block access to them after Nintendo demanded it take the content down.

The decision effectively means that sharehosting sites on French soil and in Europe (including 1fichier.com) must quickly remove or block access to illegal content when requested, and if they fail to do so they will be liable to pay compensation to the rights holders effective.

In a statement, Nintendo said it was “pleased with the Court’s finding of liability against Dstorage”, adding that it “believes that it is significant not only for Nintendo, but for the entire games industry”.

“It will prevent sharehosters like 1fichier.com from claiming like it did during the proceedings on the merits that a prior decision from a court is needed before pirated content must be taken down, and it confirms the rights that holders have to give notice of when claiming that notified content infringes copyright or trademark rights,” it said.

“Together with its recent decision of January 15th, 2025, confirming that a major French Bank had rightfully terminated a payment processing agreement with 1fichier.com due to lacking anti-piracy measures, the French Supreme Court leaves no doubt that sharehosting providers like 1fichier.com are not a safe haven for storing and sharing illegal content.”

The result is the latest in a string of legal decisions that have gone in Nintendo’s favour as it continues to fight against the piracy and emulation of its software and hardware.

Last year it sued the creator of popular Nintendo Switch emulator Yuzu, claiming The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom had been pirated over a million times in the week and a half before its release. The company subsequently issued a DMCA notice at GitHub which led to the site removing 8,535 repositories containing versions of the emulator.

Nintendo then set its sights on Switch emulator Ryujinx, which was subsequently shut down by its lead developer after he was contacted by Nintendo, offering “an agreement to stop working on the project, remove the organisation and all related assets he’s in control of”.