In September 2023, Uptobox users were shocked to learn that the file hosting service had gone offline. It later emerged that this was due to the French authorities’ raid and seizure of its servers.
Since going dark, Uptobox has been fighting in court to reclaim its servers. However, their efforts recently suffered a huge blow after a court ruled that the servers would not be returned (at least not yet).
So, what’s next for Uptobox and its users? Below, we look at everything concerning the Uptobox fiasco, from the server seizures to the court battle and potential next steps.
A brief history of Uptobox
Uptobox was founded in 2011 and quickly gained a huge following for offering a platform for users to easily upload, store, and share files with others.
Within no time, Uptobox became a giant in the file-sharing world. At the time of its shutdown, it was enjoying over 34 million monthly user visits worldwide.
Uptobox went dark after a raid by French Police
Uptobox went offline on September 20, 2023. Initially, the company had reported on X.com that they were experiencing technical problems.
“It seems that we have a technical problem, we are currently investigating, the network seems seriously disrupted.”
The company then tried reassuring users that their data was safe and that they would restore access once they regained access to the servers. It also attempted to downplay rumors (that were circulating) that authorities had seized their servers.
However, a few days later, Uptobox posted on X.com that it had become aware of the French police raiding its servers.
“We learned through the press that a police operation had taken place on the company’s servers in France.”
News reports later emerged that French police officers had carried out raids in two data centers in Paris (OpCore and Scaleway), which Uptobox used. The seizures came after several copyright holders obtained court orders to take down the service.
Alliance for Creativity and Entertainment (ACE) was involved in the server seizure
Soon after Uptobox went dark, ACE released a statement claiming responsibility for the server seizure.
“The Alliance for Creativity and Entertainment (ACE), the world’s leading anti-piracy coalition, today announced it has shut down Uptobox and Uptostream, two of the digital piracy world’s most notorious illegal video hosts.”
“The action, conducted in France and the United Arab Emirates, puts an end to a piracy operation that was well known for a decade among distributors of infringing content. The illegal service boasted massive audiences, mainly from France, but also from Indonesia, India, and Mexico, with 1.5 billion visits over the last three years.”
According to the ACE statements, several other media companies like Canal+ and France Television were also involved in the Uptobox takedown:
“Canal+ supports swift action when acts of piracy compromise intellectual property rights, which in turn has an impact on our business.” “Our partnership with ACE is essential to ensuring that the creative marketplace continues to thrive by addressing content piracy at its source.”
“France Televisions has zero tolerance for piracy and illegal distribution of content and channels.” “By collaborating with ACE, we reinforce our commitment to upholding the principles of copyright protection and preserving the value of original content.”
The file-hosting company had survived several attempts to shut it down
Uptobox takedown may have surprised some, but the writing was already on the wall for the file hosting company.
In 2014, the company faced pressure from Visa and Mastercard for using their payment services because of piracy concerns. Consequently, it blocked American users on its platform and revealed that it would explore other payment services like Bitcoin.
In 2020, the company was added to the EU Counterfeit and Piracy Watchlist, alongside several other services for promoting piracy.
However, one of the biggest blows before going offline came in 2023, when a French court ordered ISPs to block Uptobox.
The order was acquired after ALPA, an anti-piracy group working for the National Federation of Film Distributors and other stakeholders, found over 25,000 links to infringing content on Uptobox.
According to data from Transparency Report, Uptobox has also been the subject of numerous URL delisting requests for several years. The delisting requests peaked in 2015, with the company receiving tens of thousands of delisting requests every month.
Uptobox has been fighting in courts to recover seized servers
After Uptobox confirmed that its servers were seized, it posted a series of updates on X.com, promising its users it would fight to regain the servers and restore their files.
True to its words, Uptobox launched a legal challenge in a Paris Judicial court to reclaim its servers. Initially, the company sought to dispel the image of a “piracy haven” painted by entertainment companies that had acquired the seizure orders.
In its defense, Thomas Chalanset, Uptobox’s lawyer, informed the court that the company was no different from file-hosting companies like Dropbox and Google. He also stated that it complied with copyright infringement claims by taking down infringing content.
“…if a complaint is received requesting the removal of infringing content, there’s an obligation to take it down.”
Uptobox also defended itself further, claiming that only a small portion of its users were involved in sharing infringing content.
Unfortunately, Uptobox’s efforts fell flat after the courts ruled against the company. In its ruling, the court found that copyright holders had proven that the file hosting service was used to share infringing content.
“It is clear from all these elements that the Uptobox service was used predominantly to illegally make content available to the public, violating copyright and related rights, and that the operator knew or should have known this.”
The Paris court also found that Uptobox did not do enough to stop copyright infringement on its platform.
“[Uptobox] does not take any proactive measures to prevent counterfeiting on its platform, such as combating the re-uploading of deleted files, matching files, or providing contact tools for rightsholders.”
The second legal attempt to reclaim seized servers also failed
After the first court challenge failed, Uptobox filed another case, seeking to revoke the server seizure orders. The company argued that the orders were unwarranted and disproportionately affected Genius Servers Tech (Uptobox owner) and users.
Unfortunately, the attempt failed, with the court ruling that the request had been filed outside the allowed deadlines.
In a further blow, the court awarded a judgment of €70,000 in legal costs against Uptobox to be paid to copyright holders claimants involved in the case.
Uptobox promises to continue fighting
Despite the two failed legal attempts, Uptobox promises to continue fighting to reclaim its servers.
Chances are, Uptobox will file another court case challenging the seizure of the servers. However, with a court having already ruled against them, there is little chance of such a challenge working.
But even if it reclaims its seized servers, the damage might be too much for them to recover.
Already, the company has stopped premium user subscriptions, which is how it earns money. They also have to contend with expensive court battles and high server costs, with a reported monthly server bill of €75,000.
But Uptobox’s biggest blow has been its reputation. It has been over a year since the service went dark and authorities seized users’ files.
Many users (some with genuine content on the platform) are frustrated about losing their files. Others are also demanding reimbursement for their premium subscriptions.
And without in sight, every day the Uptobox legal fiasco drags on is another day the file hosting company’s reputation lies in tatters.