Nintendo Wins Case Against File Hosting 1fichier

The Filehoster 1fichier is popular in file-sharing circle, which is due to the fact that it offers fast transfer rates even without paying. Accordingly, it is also often used for piracy. Nintendo was now able to win an important and for 1fichier expensive victory in court.

Filehosters, share hosters, and one-click hosters have been a fixture in the piracy scene for many years and the providers come and go. Services like Rapidshare and Megaupload have long ceased to exist, but for the content industry this is a veritable “Whac-A-Mole” game: for every share hoster you get from the Internet, a different one appears elsewhere.

Such hosters take it sometimes more precisely, sometimes less precisely with takedowns. Because to prevent trouble, providers like Mega.nz usually react quickly to deletion requests. As TorrentFreak reports, the French hoster belongs to that category that does not take it too seriously and also likes to take some time before content that is questionable in terms of copyright is removed.

And in this context, it was now Nintendo to do: The Japanese video game company has sued 1fichier or the parent company Dstorage SAS. On the one hand, Nintendo wanted to force 1fichier to cooperate or to comply with deletion requests, on the other hand, to sue for compensation for copyright violations.

Almost a million euros fine

A Paris court recently found Nintendo right, ruling that Dstorage could be held liable for failing to remove illegal copies of Nintendo games hosted on their platform. Because 1fichier received the corresponding requests to remove but did not comply with them promptly.

The court awarded Nintendo damages in the amount of 935,500 euros and also made it clear that file hosters like 1fichier had an obligation to comply with takedown requests.