Nintendo Kills Another ROM Site
ROM siteholder Dstorage has been ordered to pay €442,750 (approximately $484,000 USD) to Nintendo by order of the Paris Court of Appeals with a further €25,000 covering legal fees.
Dstorage was targeted for possessing unauthorised Nintendo games on its website 1fichier.com.
They were ordered by Nintendo to remove the pirated games, however Dstorage did not cooperate. This led Nintendo to undertake legal action with the Paris Judicial Court discovering Dstorage liable back in May 2021 with the Court of Appeals approaching the same conclusion.
Dstorage are allowed to appeal this decision.
In Nintendo’s statement on the matter, they discuss the details of how the case was won:
“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 unauthorised copies of video games despite prior notification, sharehosting 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”.
They also acknowledge the impact of piracy across the industry:
“The Court’s finding of liability against Dstorage is significant not only for Nintendo, but also for the entire games industry. It will prevent sharehosters 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.”
This is not the first time Nintendo have experienced large-scale piracy against them.
Previously in 2022, Nintendo hacker Gary Bowser was caught producing and selling devices that had unauthorised games, resulting in his 40-month jail sentence. He will remain in debt to Nintendo for the rest of his life.
Meanwhile, a court found RomUniverse guilty and awarded $2 million in damages to Nintendo.
I am a media and pop culture enthusiast and love Nintendo and indie games, particularly Zelda and Stardew Valley. When I’m not gaming you’ll find me writing, creating fanart, and playing music covers of my favourite games!
