Nintendo's own Public Relations (PR) department has issued today an email to several outlets and partners regarding a ruling from the French Supreme Court against the french hosting website 1fichier.com.
Within the contents of that email, Nintendo states that the French Supreme Court ruled in their favour on February 26th against 1fichier due to the website being known for hosting pirated content from Nintendo, holding 1fichier liable for failing to provide proper anti-piracy measures after Nintendo previously notified and demanded DSTORAGE, the operators behind 1fichier, to take the pirated content down.
Additionally, 1fichier (and any other French or European hosting website) should remove or block access to illegal content, and if the provider fails to do so, the hoster will be held liable to pay compensation to the right holders from whose copyright has been infringed, closing with the statement that "sharehosting providers like 1fichier are not a safe heaven for storing and sharing illegal content".
The full email is here:
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FRENCH SUPREME COURT RULES FOR NINTENDO AGAINST HOSTING OF ILLEGAL CONTENT ON MAJOR FRENCH SHAREHOSTER
Supreme Court puts an end to 1fichier's long history of non-compliance and confirms standards for legal sharehosting in France
March 4th, 2025 In a decision dated February 26th, 2025, and in accordance with the decision of the Paris Court of Appeals dated April 12th, 2023, the highest French judiciary Court repeats it: DSTORAGE SAS, operating the "1fichier.com" website, is liable for failing to remove or block access to unauthorised copies of Nintendo games stored on this platform, despite notifications from Nintendo demanding DSTORAGE to take down pirate content.
The decision is final and puts an end to a long lawsuit. Sharehosting services on French soil and in Europe, such as 1fichier.com, must promptly remove or block access to illegal content and, failing that, are liable to pay compensation to those rights holders whose intellectual property rights are infringed.
Nintendo is pleased with the Court's finding of liability against DSTORAGE and 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.
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.
Nintendo promotes and fosters development and creativity, and strongly supports developers who legitimately create new and innovative software. Nintendo's message to consumers is not to download pirate copies of Nintendo games as this increases the risk that this will interfere with the functionality and experience that playing legitimate Nintendo games on authentic Nintendo hardware provides.
State it federal?