Rapidshare Loses File Sharing Suit, Fined $34 Million

First it was Pirate Bay, now it's Rapidshare. Mashable is reporting that a German court has ordered the file-hosting site to pay $34 million to German performance rights group Gesellschaft f?r musikalische Auff?hrungs- und mechanische Vervielf?ltigungsrechte (GEMA). Like the Pirate Bay case, the judgment is dubious since Rapidshare merely hosts files; it doesn't discriminate the types of files it hosts or what users are doing with them. If you follow the German court's logic (which claims that Rapidshare makes illegal file-sharing easy), then copyright owners should be suing Google for making content available through its Web search engine. Expect to see this judgment, and Pirate Bay's, appealed in the European courts.

[From: Mashable]
DJGaurav Reviewed by DJGaurav on . Rapidshare Loses File Sharing Suit, Fined $34 Million Rapidshare Loses File Sharing Suit, Fined $34 Million First it was Pirate Bay, now it's Rapidshare. Mashable is reporting that a German court has ordered the file-hosting site to pay $34 million to German performance rights group Gesellschaft f?r musikalische Auff?hrungs- und mechanische Vervielf?ltigungsrechte (GEMA). Like the Pirate Bay case, the judgment is dubious since Rapidshare merely hosts files; it doesn't discriminate the types of files it hosts or what users are doing with them. Rating: 5