Initially reported as technical issues, in September 2023 file-hosting platform Uptobox watched as its servers went offline. In reality, they were being taken away due to a criminal complaint filed by Hollywood, Canal+, Apple, Amazon, and other rightsholders. Since then, the owners of Uptobox have turned to the legal system, hoping to salvage whatever they can. On Thursday, a Paris court informed the defendants that their servers will not be returned.

Next Thursday, September 19, 2024, will mark the one-year anniversary of the raids on French datacenters that brought down file-hosting platform Uptobox.

Founded in 2011, Uptobox was a very popular site with over 34 million visits per month, a third of which were generated by French users. After being blocked by ISPs in mid-2023, enforcement action became more likely than not.

Around 20 police officers participated in the raids on cloud service providers Scaleway, OpCore, and OVH. Members of the Alliance for Creativity and Entertainment, including Columbia, Paramount, StudioCanal, Warner Bros, Disney, Apple, and Amazon, later confirmed that their complaint triggered the raids and the subsequent seizure of Uptobox servers.

Fighting Back

Unlike some other platforms accused of piracy, Uptobox has thus far bucked the trend of disappearing in response to a lawsuit, with Dubai-based owner Genius Servers Tech FZE (Genius) fully engaged in the legal process.

In April 2024, Uptobox attempted to have the entire case thrown out, arguing it wasn’t the piracy haven the plaintiffs were describing.

In a setback for Uptobox, the attempt ultimately failed, but owner Genius still hoped to have various seizure orders, that had granted the removal of its servers back in 2023, lifted by the court.

The company argued on various grounds, including that the seizures weren’t warranted due to the activities of Genius, and were a “manifestly disproportionate measure” that caused damage to Genius and users of the Uptobox service.

The plaintiffs presented a laundry list of objections, all of which are detailed in the order of the Paris court linked below. Ultimately, however, the appeal would run out of steam for reasons unrelated to the merits of the case.

Time Waits For No One

The decision handed down by the Paris judicial court on Thursday was first reported by Marc Rees at l’Informé; as he explains, Genius Servers’ efforts failed after the court ruled its requests inadmissible.

In a nutshell, demands by Genius to lift the seizure order and restore the servers were declared “time-barred” because they were simply filed too late.

The seizures were authorized in eight separate orders which targeted the headquarters and premises of Scaleway, Op Core and OVH. The only timely request by Genius concerned the seizures carried out at Scaleway. Subsequent requests in February 2024 encompassed Op Core and OVH, but the deadline had long since passed, having expired in October 2023.

The failed process is an expensive one for Genius. The court instructed the Dubai-based company to pay 8,000 euros in legal costs to each of the rightsholder claimants, to a total of 70,000 euros. The main case, whatever that may hold moving forward, will now continue.

The order of the Paris judicial court is available here (pdf)