Online file locker services that, like Rapidshare, have a business model that provides an incentive to share copyright protected materials must monitor incoming links to discover infringing files, the German Federal Court of Justice has ruled.
The ruling concerned a dispute between German copyright collecting society Gema and filesharing site Rapidshare. In 2009, Gema sued Rapidshare in Germany, alleging that over 4,800 music files for which it represented the copyright holders were shared via Rapidshare without consent from Gema or the artist.
Gema won the case in lower courts and on Tuesday the German federal court published its decision confirming those rulings. The decision was made on Aug. 15, but German courts typically take several weeks to process full written verdicts.
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