| Quote: |
No safe harbor for RapidShare in copyright infringement case
File-sharing service RapidShare has been dealt a blow by a German court and faces severe penalties if it fails to take appropriate measures against the uploading of copyrighted content by its users. The Düsseldorf Regional Court ruled against RapidShare last week in a case brought on by the German version of the RIAA, GEMA. GEMA hailed the decision as a huge victory, and concluded that RapidShare could face shutdown if it's unable to comply.
RapidShare has long argued that it can't be held responsible for what its users upload to the site. But the court disagreed, saying that the site must take responsibility for copyright infringement, even when the material in question was uploaded by its members. "This decision marks a milestone in the fight against illegal usage of our repertoire," said GEMA CEO Dr. Harald Heker in a statement. "It sends out a clear signal that any services, which derive financial benefit from unlawful uses of our works, will have to take extensive measures to protect the rights owners and cannot simply evade liability by referring to the action of individual users. With this landmark decision, the way has been paved for instituting proceedings against other similar services."
Had this involved a US court, the outcome would have been different. In the US, web site operators can (and do) argue that the Safe Harbor provision in the DMCA protects them from liability as long as they remove infringing content after being presented with a takedown notice. In Germany (and many other countries), there is no equivalent to protect sites like RapidShare, meaning that RapidShare almost has little but to comply with the ruling. According to GEMA, the court said that RapidShare must "take such measures as involve the risk of its business model becoming much less attractive or even having to be discontinued entirely."
This is exactly how companies like Viacom would like things to play out here in the US. Big Content would love to hold sites like YouTube responsible for checking, in advance, every single item uploaded to the site, and have them held liable for any infringing content that ends up online. Instead, the Safe Harbor provision requires them filing takedown notices every time they come across something that might be infringing. Big Content is also pushing hard for filtering solutions that it believes could provide the solution to all their problems. Unfortunately, filters don't understand fair use, and their use could result in legitimate content being kept offline.
As for RapidShare, it's unclear what will happen next. Christian Solmecke, an attorney for the site, told TorrentFreak that the outcome of the case is unusual, because it would require RapidShare to perform the nearly impossible task of checking every single item in its hosted materials for copyrights. "I believe that Rapidshare will appeal against the decision of the Landgericht (District Court) of Düsseldorf," Solmecke said. "If they do so, we will have to wait and see what the Oberlandesgericht (Higher District Court) of Düsseldorf (as the Court of Appeal) says." |
http://arstechnica.com/news.ars/post/20080129-no-safe-harbor-for-rapidshare-in-copyright-infringement-case.htmlbut if you close one surely another one just opens up!
| teko wrote: |
| but if you close one surely another one just opens up! |
At first I thought it would suck if they shut down, but I think you're right that it would'nt take long for others to fill the gap and maybe with an even better service. Based on the article it sounds like a simple solution would be for them to move their servers to the US ?Why move to US.. then the RIAA and MPAA will start making noises! Better to move it to Sweden!
In any case, I hope Rapidshare comes through unscathed. Though not best of the filehosters, they do come close to being that!
there are alternatives already open... free ones aswell, which dont make you have to wait 60 seconds to download each file. rapidshare are good, but it aint gonner stop it is it.
| newso wrote: |
| there are alternatives already open... free ones aswell, which dont make you have to wait 60 seconds to download each file. rapidshare are good, but it aint gonner stop it is it. |
Exactly. I do post legal stuff online though, so it is a bit of a bugger Rapidshare is offline, but as you (and others) have said, there's always a new one in the wings somewhere.Yes but I think we should have some kind more stricter IP laws uniform throughout the world
| akshar wrote: |
| Yes but I think we should have some kind more stricter IP laws uniform throughout the world |
That's a bit hard, as many countries do not adhere to global and US IP laws.How does the court exactly plan on having Rapidshare enforce it? I mean I could say upload an entire mp3 album but name it like "Final Semester Papers". Even if they have their employees go through entire compressed files, that is very time consuming and perhaps even system load heavy.
I think rapidshare can put a limit on the filesize and types. That will solve a major part of problem.
SEcondly , rapidshare should be willing to delete any file that is noted to violate any IP law.
This is hardly surprising. Rapidshare has been responsible for a huge volume of copyright infringement and has done little to protect against it - I'm amazed it has survived this long in its current state. Not only that but they're making money off the back of the copyrighted material, which is clearly unacceptable from a legal point of view. However, its a shame for the people that use it legitimately.
Hardly surprising, I wonder if they will try to fight it or just close shop.
Apart from rapidshares, there are still others like megashares, megaupload.. And more.. By closing rapidshare, it wont make any difference.
Rapidshare is no where making a mistake I beleive as they have no control over the contents and they are providing services that are helpful in many situations where there is no copy right infringment issues.
Any there are hundred of other services that function similar as rapidshare. This thing will sure go on.
too bad. I liked their site and so did many others.
On a good note check out these 2 sites, I use them all the time for files under 1gb. The first one's my favorite.
http://drop.io
and
http://www.filesend.net | gh0stface wrote: |
| How does the court exactly plan on having Rapidshare enforce it? I mean I could say upload an entire mp3 album but name it like "Final Semester Papers". Even if they have their employees go through entire compressed files, that is very time consuming and perhaps even system load heavy. |
You can search for a pattern of bytes than the actual text to finger print the album. | akshar wrote: |
I think rapidshare can put a limit on the filesize and types. That will solve a major part of problem.
SEcondly , rapidshare should be willing to delete any file that is noted to violate any IP law. |
They could just split the files.
But anyway its a shame if rapidshare have to go down. They are a decent filehoster. The waiting part is alright imo. I have used few others filehoster who literally have tons and tons of advertisements. Its so ANNOOOYYYYIINNGGGGG !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 
i dont think they could do that as of now with lots of users being a paid members... they cant take the risks.
If they were so inclined, RIAA could hash the albums in five different framerates, and also each song individually by the same process, together with hashing some other five packed versions, and then websites could check for them running a simple comparing process to each file people upload. That'd not be TOO computationally tough, and would make uploading copyrighted material enough of a hassle for people to use this type of websites as a transfer station. Now, maybe they'd switch to sFXP, and then you're screwed, but that is a different story involving some other evil crap.
Other rather sane thing they could do is revive singles and stop charging each album like it's rhodium-plated or something similar. That could bring back a lot of customers who, for instance, don't want to buy 23 crappy songs because they like 1 in the album.
its not una close its not truu
Finally what can be concluded from this entire discussion is that whether or not rapidshare closes there will be always OTHER ways to share files 
And i think thats pretty good.
