(Dieser Artikel ist auch in deutscher Sprache verfügbar)
Rapidshare AG sued the German society for musical performing and mechanical reproduction rights (GEMA) in order to clarify the legal situation regarding free file hosting in Germany.
The counter-attack from Rapidshare, a well-known free file hosting provider based in Switzerland, comes after the suit initiated in Germany by GEMA in January 2007 for distributing MP3 files on Rapidshare.com. GEMA won a preliminary injunction in the first lawsuit that was upheld by the appeal in March of the District Court of Cologne.
The District Court in Cologne had considered that Rapidshare was liable for copyright infringements even if the works were uploaded by the users and not by the provider.
As a result of the GEMA action, Rapidshare was forced to stop the distribution of works from the GEMA catalogue and to actively monitor uploads of these works.
Rapidshare argues that this activity is close to impossible and is not covered by the German copyright law either. Rapidshare CEO Bobby Chang considers that people have the right to make backup copies of their music and that it is practically impossible to distinguish between legal and unauthorized uses of MP3s.
"We are confident that it is possible to solve the conflict with GEMA while at the same time paying tribute to innovation" said Chang.
Rapidshare sues rights holders (19.04.2007)
http://www.p2p-blog.com/item-280.html
RapidShare AG press release (only in German, 18.04.2007)
http://www.blogspan.net/377-rapidshare-ag-klagt-gegen-gema-welche-pruf...
EDRI-gram: Temporary injunction against RapidShare.de (31.01.2007)
http://www.edri.org/edrigram/number5.2/rapidshare