Nintendo continues its crackdown against websites that house ROMs of their popular games. The publisher has infamously gone after different websites that house ROMs of Nintendo games for years. It is an ongoing battle against piracy that Nintendo shows no sign of slowing down, especially after various ROM websites have been taken down in its wake. But now another one may have been impacted by Nintendo’s legal eagles and made to pay out a very hefty price for having ROMs of Nintendo games.
In a report by GamesIndustry, the website operator Dstorage was ordered by the Paris Court of Appeals to pay out €442,750 (which amounts to $484,000 USD), along with legal fees, after the court found the website liable for damages done to Nintendo for having unauthorized Nintendo games on its website. According to the court’s ruling, Dstorage failed to remove or block access to pirated copies of Nintendo games that were found on the file hosting website 1fichier.com.
After Nintendo demanded that Dstorage to remove the unauthorized Nintendo games on its website, Dstorage did not do so and the company moved towards legal action with the Paris Judicial Court. The verdict was ruled in Nintendo’s favor back in May 2021, with now The Court of Appeals giving the official amount in compensation and legal fees for Dstorage to pay to Nintendo.
In a statement released after the verdict, Nintendo reinforced its stance against piracy and thoughts on the verdict. “Nintendo is pleased with the decision of the Paris Court of Appeals, as it again sends a clear message that in refusing to remove or withdraw access to unauthorized copies of video games despite prior notification, share hosting services such as Dstorage (1fichier) are liable under French law and must remove or block access to such content and may be liable to pay compensation to those rights holders whose intellectual property rights have been infringed…
The Court’s finding of liability against Dstorage is significant not only for Nintendo but also for the entire games industry. It will prevent share hosters like 1Fichier from claiming that a prior decision from a court will be needed before pirated content has to be taken down, and additionally, the Court decision confirms what rights holders have to give notice of when claiming that notified content infringes copyright or trademark rights.”
As of now, the only options that Dstorage has is to either appeal the decision of the court or pay out the fees to Nintendo. No statement by Dstorage has been made on the court’s ruling, whether they will appeal it or not. In the past, Nintendo is notorious for having a very heavy hand on those who get involved in piracy with its games. Back in 2022, Nintendo took a known Nintendo hacker named Gary Bowser to court. The ruling found Gary sent to prison for a 40-month sentence for creating and selling devices with pirated Nintendo games.
What do you think about the news of Nintendo going after websites and people who pirate their games? Do you think that Dstorage should appeal the verdict? Share your thoughts down below in the comment section!
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