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RapidShare Declared Legal In Court, With a Twist

A Higher Regional Court in Germany has ruled that file-hosting service RapidShare operates legally in Germany. The verdict is the result of a long-standing legal battle between the Swiss-based file-hosting service and music rights group GEMA. It’s not all good for RapidShare though, as the company now has to monitor external websites for incoming links to infringing files.

rapidshareIn the aftermath of the Megaupload shutdown, people have been keeping a close eye on court cases involving other file-hosting services, RapidShare included.

During the past several years RapidShare has made tremendous efforts to cooperate with copyright holders and limit copyright infringements. But this couldn’t prevent the company from getting involved in a handful of lawsuits against rightsholders.

Two week ago, a press release published by copyright holders claimed that RapidShare had suffered an enormous defeat in court. However, now that the court has published its final decision, RapidShare is claiming a victory of its own.

In the verdict of RapidShare’s legal dispute against the music rights group GEMA, the Higher Regional Court in Hamburg explicitly recognizes that RapidShare’s business model is legal. This news is music to the ears of the file-hoster.

“For the first time the Hamburg Higher Regional Court has followed our line of argument on key points and has conferred legal legitimacy on our service, just as other courts have done over a considerable period of time. This is a significant result for us,” said RapidShare CEO Alexandra Zwingli.

The court further ruled that RapidShare has no obligation to proactively monitor files that are uploaded by its users. Instead, the company has to monitor external sites that link to copyrighted files on RapidShare, and ensure these files become inaccessible.

This is not a problem according to the cyberlocker.

“That is exactly what RapidShare has already been doing for many years. If the Anti-Abuse Team identifies a download link on such pages which results in a file that has clearly been published illegally being on the company’s servers, the file in question is immediately blocked.”

Aside from monitoring forums and linking sites for infringing links, RapidShare has made several other adjustments to its service to decrease unlawful use. Most recently, the company limited the download speeds of “free” users to drive away pirates.

Nevertheless, RapidShare objects to the fact that they have to carry out this monitoring based on a court order, and they will therefore take the case to the Supreme Court.

“We are doing this of our own accord because we have a strong interest in ensuring that our service remains clean. We believe that being obliged to carry out such actions is questionable from a legal perspective. For this reason we will appeal the verdict to clarify the issue of proactive monitoring of external websites at the highest judicial level,” Zwingli said.

The eventual decision of the Supreme Court may have massive implications. Not only for RapidShare, but also for the many other file-hosting services that operate in Germany.

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  • Knightar

    Maybe this proves that cyberlockers are legal, Bring back Megaupload!

    also, first!

    • Names paint pictures

      You mean Cloud Storage

      • Mr Devious Bastard the 3rd

        What !

        • COLLEEN

          @Ryan Smith my best friend’s ṡiṡter brought in $14392 past month. she iṡ getting paid on the computer and got a $546OOO home. All she did was get lucky and make use of the inṡtructions shown on this webṡite..MakeCash2.com

      • Miss Nice and Friendly

        What !

        • Guest

          “the company now has to monitor external websites for incoming links to infringing files”

          Is now Rapidshare the MAFIAA’s private web police?

        • Lakisha

          easy to defeat, mask links and hide referral = problem solved

      • Anonymous

        no he means cyberlockers, cloud storage is such a stupid name.

        • cybercloud

          Why not “cybercloud”?

        • yea but

          it is a stupid name , I agree but What sounds nicer cloud or cyber ?

        • ZiggySig

          Oh, just go with the cloudlocker and be done with it!

  • Anyone

    the monitoring is excessive, that should be the job of the MAFIAA
    why do they always succeed in having others pay the cost of their failed business model?

  • http://twitter.com/arron62 arron

    change: drive away pirates
    to: drive away premium members

    now all they need to do is change the name
    maybe dialupshare.com or slowerthaneverybodyelse.com

    • CliffBeatEmUp

      I agree. Some of our clients use Rapidshare to send us very large files and pay a premium for fast uploads. However, as recipients we access (and download) those files using a normal ‘free account’ (ie: we’re not account holders) which means that it takes many hours to receive a file that other providers such as Sendspace, YouSendIt, MailBigFile will give you full speed access to. Complaints from upstream users such as ourselves to our clients about this problem is leading them to change to other services in our fast-paced sector.

      More evidence that the MAFIAA wants to hurt business.

  • http://profiles.google.com/zerianis10 Christopher Kidwell

    They already basically shut down Rapidshare by putting that ‘monitor outside websites’ that Rapidshare cannot do. Many websites will get around that by using an ‘Anonymity’ service like Anonymouse.

    • Ibooq

      i manage to download some shit from their site recently… surprisingly i experience no cap whatsoever

      • http://profiles.google.com/zerianis10 Christopher Kidwell

        The problem isn’t with a ‘cap’. The problem is that with that ruling, these outside agencies who seem to not want to protect their own copyrights can STILL sue Rapidshare and other filehosters, based on the fact that they are ‘not doing enough’ to screen links.

        • MadAsASnake

          I don’t think anything would ever be “enough” for MAFIAA.

  • http://pogue972.blogspot.com/ pogue972

    Now we just need to come up with some alternatives to safelinking.net

  • http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100002639684444 Ryan Smith

    If they actually do it then it means looking at the link description, finding out if the content is in fact what the links says (because anyone can post a bogus description), finding out who own the copyright of the content being linked to and making sure that person linking to the content is not actually authorized by the copyright owner to do so.

    We know damn well that this entire process is never carried out during such witch hunts. Instead, Rapidshare will probably display minimal “attempts” at monitoring inbound links and removing the content probably based on bogus description.

    In the meantime…
    1. Create a website linking to as many of Rapidshare’s stored files.
    2. Give bogus descriptions of each file name.
    3. Notify Rapidshare of your site and see if they either delete all of their hosted content or take it to the courts as evidence that these are unreasonable expectations.

  • RIAAtarded

    The right groups need to be held responsible for their own tracking and enforcement of their copyright the own. It isn’t feasible for the cyberlockers to know what content belongs to who nor should they bear the cost for the monitoring required to comply. If I own the movie and rip a copy, upload that to cyberlocker that is legal in my country. The rights holder can’t take it down it is mine not theirs. There in lies the rub how would the cyberlocker know? Plus a file name isn’t enough to determine ownership. I could upload a video called the hurtlocker with my favourite bar fights I caught on a camera phone during a weekend out. Can they claim it based on name? lord knows they are trying with the hobbit pub in the UK. Honestly courts shouldn’t even be hearing this crap. Force the rights holders to download everything, confirm they have ownership of it, send proof of ownership to the cyberlocker, have the cyberlocker pass it to the uploader with time to respond.

    • Anyone

      the MAFIAA should be able to report files to be removed, but pay punitive fines for wrong removals

      37% false takedowns (as reported by google) is way way too high, and without consequences the MAFIAA will not change their ways

    • http://pulse.yahoo.com/_PFCI5VRUCYT6AVBT3P6ILV3COI Ophelia Millais

      You got it right on the money. RapidShare must just be trying to appear cooperative when they’re saying it’s “no problem” to proactively police external sites’ links to RS-hosted files. It’s generally impossible to have a reasonable degree of certainty that a file “has clearly been published illegally” without analyzing the content of the file and evaluating the claim of the alleged copyright owner, and that’s a job for the courts, although as you say, this would be a waste of the courts’ time.

    • JunkyMonkey

      ” If I own the movie and rip a copy…”

      You will never own a movie unless you make it. You having the DVD is ONLY a license to use the movie contained within it. You own the physical disc, but never the content.

      • MadAsASnake

        True. You own a licence to that copy annd what you may (and my not) do with that copy varies wildly from one jusisdiction to another. Just because MPAA shouts “copy” in accusatory tones doesn’y make it illegal.

      • Guest

        hey, that’s a lawyer perspective (http://www.bettercallsaul.com/)

        from an artistic perspective, the audience are the only legitimate owner of a piece of art.

      • http://profiles.google.com/zerianis10 Christopher Kidwell

        Not by the law in some states and countries around the world. MANY countries have it that when you buy a movie, you DO own that movie, have the right to watch that movie on any device you personally own, can rip that movie and put it on other devices, etc.

      • RIAAtarded

        That is what the licence holder would like however it is entirely dependant on your countries law. Mine has fair usage so you can make backups of any of your media and as well you should be able to. Personally I don’t want a damn piece of plastic, they can be destroyed to easy and digital file are centralized, less footprint and easily backed up so you don’t lose them.

    • MadAsASnake

      As long as you don’t post any external links your files should not come into question.

  • 5521521q

    Mediafire is almost complete in it’s complete satanization
    Next is RS

    • Camilo

      I don’t know what you’re talking about.

      Everything I watched in the recent weeks came from mediafire. Also some albums I listened to.

      Maybe for porn it’s different, haven’t checked in a while.

  • FinalApokylypse

    And in other news Kim Dotcom has a new civil lawsuit filed against him.
    http://www.stuff.co.nz/technology/6651648/Civil-lawsuits-launched-against-Dotcom

  • Lazycash1DOTcom

    My best friend’s sister made $19668 the prior week. she has been making cash on the laptop and got a $424600 house. All she did was get fortunate and set to work the directions explained on this site >>>> LazyCash1.com

    • http://www.facebook.com/people/Don-Dilly/1624894683 Don Dilly

      Yet another post relating to friend’s ‘sisters’ getting rich quick no doubt involving a webcam and hiding large vegetables

      • FinalApokylypse

        Sadly the people who do this sorta stuff only really expect to net in a very small percentage of the people who see it.. TF atleast deletes these sort of comments which I’m thankful for.

      • http://www.facebook.com/ValhallaLegend Andrew Lee

        LMFAO!

  • whoever

    how is this different from forcing the us postal service to open every package it ships, or forcing any courier service to deny shipping anything for any reason?

    • Anyone

      it is not
      but judges fail to see that so far

      • http://profiles.google.com/zerianis10 Christopher Kidwell

        Most judges in the United States are old fogies who don’t really understand new technology, if not actively hate it because they do not understand it.

        • NeoToasty

          And will choose to not understand it, instead, proceed to force people to conform to their obsolete standards. Like old people in power tend to do.

  • Fgfgfhghg

    This is not a problem according to the cyberlocker.

    well if you see 50 downloads of that single file then …..soooo get 500 people to up it and share a few times have a script that has max 2-3 dls at random intervals……

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  • Anonymous

    The DMCA tells Cyberlockers and ISPs, “If you do nothing but your business of storing and transmitting data, then you are a mere conduit and bear no liability for
    the actions of your individual customers.”

    There has never been, therefore, a legal or moral obligation for Cyberlockers and ISPs to enter into any “voluntary (read otherwise not legally mandated) agreement
    with copyright holders to proactively monitor, inspect; list or delist; slow down, speed up, or stop; order or schedule, their customers files.

    The effective answer of Cyberlockers and ISPs to Copyright holders under DMCA has always been, “We only store and transmit data. We do not; and legally cannot control or interfere customer files. Adress your customers, not us, about your legally valid complaints in court.”

    This answer leaves copyright holders with the same recourse they have always had: Sue each customer in civil or criminal court; agree to respect rules of procedure; to be bound by civil and constitutional rights; and, to be willing to pay the liabilities arising from adverse outcomes.

    This may not be the reality that Copyright holders want; but, unless third parties are stupid enough to waive their safe harbor status under DMCA, it may be the reality that both copyright holders and their customers get.

    The risk here is for both file sharing users of intellectual property and the copyright monopolies.

    For Copyright holders, the expense of mass lawsuits is hardly the problem. The important problem is that such mass lawsuits will cause an angry reexamination of the existing terms of copyright law and create a public consensus that the one hundred year term is unacceptable as a perpetuity; that its monopoly premium represents vast public extorsion of every user of intellectual property in the society (everyone); that it fails to compensate fairly original creative artists in favor of compensating digital destributors whose costs of product warehousing, replication and transmission approach zero, but who trade on monopoly rights; and, that it legally confiscates the public domain.

    Copyright holders cannot expect any good to come from a broad light of day examination of these issues by millions of their angry customers in courts; and, ultimately, in the legislatures.

    For filesharing users of intellectual property, on the other hand, there is real risk that new technology cancels their anonimity advantage on the internet file and presents copyright holders with effective actionable identification and evidence with which to proceed expeditiously and economicly in the courts. This would not only provide copyright holders with vast new revenue from newly litigable infrigement claims under the existing copyright regime; but, more importantly, might avoid the current opportunities for extented moral, legal, and political re-examination and challenge to the existing copyright regime itself.

    The message to file sharers is: No matter what happens with respect to Rapidshare, or MU, or Hotfile, you will have no peace or safety from copyright holders until the copyright laws that underlie their previledges are overthrown.

    • Guest

      Good post. However one side note, this is Germany and hence the DMCA is not applicable and has zero effect. Although the ECD does contain a similar clause:

      “Where an information society service is provided that consists of the transmission in a communication network of information provided by a recipient of the service, or the provision of access to a communication network, Member States shall ensure that the service provider is not liable for the information transmitted, on condition that the provider: (a) does not initiate the transmission; (b) does not select the receiver of the transmission; and (c) does not select or modify the information contained in the transmission. The acts of transmission and of provision of access include the automatic, intermediate and transient storage of the information transmitted in so far as this takes place for the sole purpose of carrying out the transmission in the communication network, and provided that the information is not stored for any period longer than is reasonably necessary for the transmission.”

    • Guest

      Forgot to say this. The phrase “not stored for any period longer than is reasonably necessary for the transmission.” is important there. This concerns true network transmission, and not general file storage. That probably falls under hosting:

      “Hosting

      Where an information society service is provided that consists of the storage of information provided by a recipient of the service, Member States shall ensure that the service provider is not liable for the information stored at the request of a recipient of the service, on condition that: (a) the provider does not have actual knowledge of illegal activity or information and, as regards claims for damages, is not aware of facts or circumstances from which the illegal activity or information is apparent; or (b) the provider, upon obtaining such knowledge or awareness, acts expeditiously to remove or to disable access to the information.”

      And here we see a potential problem. When do they have actual knowledge of illegal activity? And how far do they have to go to acquire this knowledge? Head in the sand apparently won’t do.

    • Blah

      Since when did the DMCA apply in Germany?

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  • http://perved.org/ PERVED.ORG

    Great :D

  • Waseihou

    Just make a comment on the forum that they are not allowed to register and put it into terms and conditions. Then they might be legally obliged NOT to enter such a forum?

  • TDXI

    “Most recently, the company limited the download speeds of “free” users to drive away pirates.”

    Is there anyone that actually believes that BS? Wait till MU comes back I’m sure they will quickly increase the speed again.

  • http://twitter.com/Anime4PSP Anime 4 PSP

    aww, i was hoping something like “they ordered to spy => they start spying => ppl finally understand that rs is trash => ppl leave => rs goes bankrupt => win” would happen. too bad =/

    • TDXI

      It nearly did happen. I wouldn’t even be shocked if it turned out RS had helped get MU shut down. Prior to that most people had stopped using RS, it was all MU, FS, FSonic amd WU.

      At the minute people have no real choice but it wont stay like that, and then RS will be dropped again. The amazing thing is not one of these other filehosts has thought, wait, MU catered for free users and became one of the biggest, why don’t we try that. They are all just trying to get as much short term revenue as possible they never seem to focus on long term, perhaps that’s why so many fail.

  • MadAsASnake

    And once again a German Judge has shown a total lack of understanding in the IT arena. The exact wording of the ruling might matter. If the courts are going to hold rapidshare responsible for links that users post on third party websites, then to what degree are they held responsible? Rapidshare would need to know:
    - The copyright status of every file in their system (this means they need to know what it contains – and there are laws about that…, and they cannot be compelled under EU law anyway)
    - Every link to Rapidshare on the Internet (pretty much impossible)
    - The rights the user has on that file (absolutely impossible)

    I suspect the judge is trying to impose monitoring responsibility without breaching the EU ruling. He seems to have missed that this means monitoring anyway.

    So now the questions start.

    Given that RapidShare won’t know the content is infringing, how do they identify links to infringing content?

    What happens if RapidShare find a link they beleive to be infringing? They only have rights to their own system – they can’t take down links on a third party system. What about wrongful takedowns?

    What happens if there is a link and RadidShare don’t find it?

    If the ruling puts strict responsibilty on Rapidshare, it’s pretty much impossible to operate. If the ruling is something along the lines of “all reasonable” then it’s almost meaningless. RapidShare would be right to appela this sort of unworkable idiocy.

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  • Jack Murdock

    Fuck you, Germany. At least GEMA are the only sane people left in your country D:<

    • MadAsASnake

      OH! You work for those parasites?

      • Guest

        ‘Course I do. What did Anon tell you? We would watch your demise from afar and work to see that you are all arrested. Anon would join me, but he’s busy sulking in a corner that’s NOT GERMANY.

        • MadAsASnake

          And on what basis would you see to it that I am arrested?

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  • Wat

    “RapidShare Declared Legal In Court, With a Twist” by M. Night Shyamalan

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  • Neflyte49

    You can encrypt iur data and make a link with an slang like L33t or other type like stenography and win the battle.

    • TDXI

      You really have no idea what you are talking about do you.

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