Six global publishers have obtained an injunction against Swiss-based Rapidshare AG. The move is projected to be an important step toward holding Internet companies accountable for threatening authors’ livelihoods and publishers’ ability to invest in and develop quality content and resources. Plaintiffs in the case were Bedford, Freeman and Worth Publishing Group, LLC, a subsidiary of Macmillan; Cengage Learning Inc.; Elsevier Inc; John Wiley & Sons, Inc.; The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc.; and Pearson Education, Inc.
The judgment handed down by a German court in Hamburg, effective February 17, 2010, ordered Rapidshare to implement measures to prevent illegal file sharing of the 148 copyright-protected works cited in the lawsuit, filed on February 4, 2010. The court ruled that Rapidshare must monitor its site to ensure the copyrighted material is not being uploaded and prevent unauthorised access to the material by its users. The company will be subject to substantial fines for non-compliance. Rapidshare collects monthly fees from many of its users and encourages the unauthorised uploading of content with a variety of reward programmes.
Speaking on behalf of the publisher plaintiffs, Tom Allen, CEO of the Association of American Publishers, said that this ruling not only affirms that file-sharing copyrighted content without permission is against the law, but it attaches a hefty financial punishment to the host, in this case Rapidshare, for noncompliance.
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