RapidShare Found Liable For Copyrighted Material Uploaded to Site
German court ruled against popular file-sharing site on Jan. 23.
By: Sherri L. Shaulis
Posted: 01/29/2008
DUESSELDORF, Germany
- A German court last week dealt another blow - possibly, a fatal one - to the
popular one-click file hoster RapidShare.
On Jan. 23, the Duesseldorf district court ruled RapidShare
must block access to works from the GEMA repertoire. The ruling was in response
to a suit filed against the site - reportedly operated in Switzerland by its German owner -
by GEMA, which is the German equivalent of the Recording Industry Association
of America.
GEMA won two previous injunctions against RapidShare, but
this was the first time the organization won an actual court case.
RapidShare representatives have not responded to the ruling.
RapidShare repeatedly had contended that only its users, and
not the site itself, can be held liable for copyright violations. The court
disagreed, finding that RapidShare is mostly used to swap copyrighted files - including
songs, movies and pictures - which is illegal, and that the company generates
substantial profits from those activities.
Moderators at RapidShare traditionally disabled single links
following copyright-infringement complaints, but in November 2007, they began
disabling all links posted by users suspected of copyright infringement.
In a press release, GEMA quoted the ruling, saying it forces
RapidShare to "take measures that might have the risk of making RapidShare's
service substantially less attractive or even close it down completely."
The court ruled that RapidShare must take "preventative
action" against infringing uploads, which could mean moderators would be
required to preview every upload submission for copyrighted material.
According to analysts from TorrentFreak, the case "may have wider
implications, particularly in terms of offering file hosting services to users
in Germany.
Other file-sharing sites may ban German users, and there's also a risk that now
that there has been a win in Germany,
similar groups to the RIAA/GEMA in other nations may try to get similar
rulings."
