RapidShare wins another alleged copyright infringement case

By EDRi · January 12, 2011

This article is also available in:
Deutsch: [RapidShare gewinnt einen weiteren Fall angeblicher Urheberrechtsverletzung | http://www.unwatched.org/node/2497]

RapidShare, the Swiss based file-hosting service, won the appeal against
the computer game distributor Atari Europe. In March 2010, Düsseldorf
Regional Court ruled that the company had not taken sufficient measures to
hinder the distribution of the computer game “Alone in the Dark” via its
platform.

The Higher Regional Court of Düsseldorf has now dismissed Atari’s claim
through an amendment of the original ruling, acknowledging RapidShare’s
efforts to take measures against the illegal distribution of copyrighted
material.

The Court also ruled against Atari’s demands for a keyword filter and an
automatic retrieval and deletion of all files containing certain keywords
considering such a measure as unreasonable and creating the risk of also
deleting legal files that match the same keywords. Other proposed measures
such as a manual verification of suspect files and the removal of links on
third party search engines were considered impossible, unreasonable and
pointless.

“The ruling demonstrates once again that RapidShare is operating a fully
legal range and has taken measures against the misuse of its service which
go beyond the level that is legally required. We are confident that
copyright holders will gradually come to accept this conclusion,” stated
Daniel Raimer, RapidShare’s lawyer and spokesman.

This is the second decision of the kind taken by the German court in favour
of RapidShare. In July 2010 The Higher Regional Court of Düsseldorf ruled
against Capelight Pictures giving a similar decision. Also, in May 2009, a
US court ruled that RapidShare was not guilty of copyright
infringement.

RapidShare wins appeal against Atari (6.01.2011)
http://www.rapidshare.com/#!rapidshare-ag/rapidshare-ag_news

RapidShare’s Measures Against Piracy Are Sufficient, Court Rules (6.01.2011)
http://torrentfreak.com/rapidshare-wins-appeal-against-atari-110106/

Game over for Atari case against Rapidshare (6.01.2011)
http://www.theinquirer.net/inquirer/news/1935366/game-atari-rapidshare

EDRi-gram: Germany: Filtering by keywords is not an obligation for a hosting
company (28.07.2010)
http://www.edri.org/edrigram/number8.15/filter-keywords-not-hosting-germany