RapidShare Once Again Vindicated By Court

from the find-another-devil dept

Over the last few months, we've watched as the entertainment industry has started to turn its legal guns on digital locker sites, like Rapidshare, as being "the new front" for unauthorized distribution of works. They've even been able to get US politicians to condemn Rapidshare as being one of the "most notorious" sites out there. There's just one eensy weensy problem: courts around the globe keep finding what Rapidshare does to be perfectly legal. RapidShare is just a digital locker, has no index or search engine, and is pretty active in trying to stop infringement on its site. In May, a US court rejected a request for an injunction against Rapidshare, which followed a German appeals court basically saying the same thing. Now there's been another ruling in Germany that, once again, says that Rapidshare is legal, and notes that it "takes all reasonable measures to prevent movies from being distributed."

To some extent, I find this amusing. The entertainment industry has kept suing anyone doing anything they don't like, rather than spending any real effort adapting. So each new generation of tools used for file sharing responds to the legal rulings, trying to make sure they don't run afoul of what got the previous generation. Sooner or later, that meant that these sites would pass all the legal checkboxes -- even if they can still be used for unauthorized infringement. So where does that leave the entertainment industry? They could have spent all this time perfecting new business models and adapting -- and done so in a way that embraced what people were doing. Instead, they've bullied their way around, pissed off tons of people, and helped define exactly how one can build a system that isn't guilty of contributory infringement, that will still be used for unauthorized file sharing.
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Filed Under: copyright, digitial lockers, germany
Companies: rapidshare


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  • icon
    MarksAngel (profile), 23 Jul 2010 @ 5:44am

    .

    LONG LIVE RAPIDSHARE!

    link to this | view in chronology ]

  • identicon
    Gwiz, 23 Jul 2010 @ 5:52am

    The entertainment industry has kept suing anyone doing anything they don't like, rather than spending any real effort adapting.

    And the only people who are really benefiting from all of this are the lawyers. Sad.

    link to this | view in chronology ]

    • identicon
      Gwiz, 23 Jul 2010 @ 5:54am

      Re:

      Whoops. The last line is mine and shouldn't have been in italics. It's early - need more coffee.

      link to this | view in chronology ]

    • icon
      Richard (profile), 23 Jul 2010 @ 6:40am

      Re:

      The entertainment industry is in great contrast to Rapidshare itself:

      From the Rapidshare site:
      As a result of the recent adjustments to our product and pricing model we have received a lot of feedback from our users. There was also positive response but we want to be honest with you: most answers were negative. With our adjustments we have alienated many users. As a matter of course, that was not our intention. Instead, it is our goal to introduce a system that gives our users more flexibility. However, we are happy about every single user response that we have received as this is the only way we can learn what our users really want.

      If the entertainment industry learned from Rapidshare how to deal with customers they might get somewhere!

      link to this | view in chronology ]

  • identicon
    Anonymous Coward, 23 Jul 2010 @ 5:59am

    Oh snap!

    Plan B,C and D now.

    * ISP-level monitoring and filtering of files or traffic, website blocking and redirection, bandwidth throttling, and monitoring software installed on individual users' computers to check for copyright infringement. [2]

    * Bypassing the Digital Millennium Copyright Act's notice-and-takedown procedure by allowing copyright owners to create databases of works or digital files and force ISPs — in order to qualify for the DMCA § 512 safe harbor — to automatically take down any matching content uploaded to their network and to prevent matching content from being uploaded or linked to at all. [3]

    * Making the Department of Justice and the Department of Homeland Security follow the industry's schedule by coordinating piracy interdiction efforts with new releases of blockbuster movies. [4]


    [1] Comments of Creative Community Organizations, pp. 2, March 24, 2010: http://www.dga.org/news/pr-images/2010/Joint-submission-re-IPEC.pdf; last accessed 04/25/2010.

    [2] Id at 10.

    [3] Id at 17.

    [4] Id at 12-13.

    They will keep throwing things at the wall and see what sticks.

    link to this | view in chronology ]

  • icon
    interval (profile), 23 Jul 2010 @ 7:44am

    Rapidshare sucks

    Rapidshare is a painful, intrusive, pain in the ass, and a really dumb way to share anything online. Every time some one wants to share any digital data with online and I see the rapidshare domain I run away. If you don't have a web server of your own, which many don't- I understand that; a much better alternative is Dropbox. 2 Gigs online storage free (pay above that, of course) plus you can place some of your data in a publicly accessible area and reserve the rest in a private area. You can even place a static web page in the public area. And no annoying nags that bother you after the first access. Dump rapidshare.

    link to this | view in chronology ]

    • identicon
      Rekrul, 23 Jul 2010 @ 11:09am

      Re: Rapidshare sucks

      a much better alternative is Dropbox.

      Why do I need to install even more crap on my system just to be able to upload files to a web site?

      Where's the "I'm not a moron, and already know how to use the software I have" link?

      link to this | view in chronology ]

  • identicon
    TPBer, 23 Jul 2010 @ 7:45am

    That's why I moved..

    all activity to their site. They gave me a premium account for being a good sharerer :D

    link to this | view in chronology ]

  • identicon
    OldGeek, 23 Jul 2010 @ 8:51am

    Really

    With the prices they charge, they have no problem paying off the judges.

    link to this | view in chronology ]

  • icon
    Nastybutler77 (profile), 23 Jul 2010 @ 1:51pm

    Lobbyists ho!

    Sooner or later, that meant that these sites would pass all the legal checkboxes -- even if they can still be used for unauthorized infringement. So where does that leave the entertainment industry?

    It leaves the entertainment industry using their lobbyists to stuff money into the war chests of Congressmen who will sponsor a bill that will make these sites illegal. Then the dance will continue.

    link to this | view in chronology ]

  • icon
    crade (profile), 23 Jul 2010 @ 2:34pm

    "So where does that leave the entertainment industry"
    I would say that leaves them drafting new laws.

    link to this | view in chronology ]

  • identicon
    nutsak, 24 Jul 2010 @ 12:05pm

    lol

    Lol dropbox has nothing to do with rapidshare.

    Rapidshare, you pay for a premium password. All people upload files to rapidshare. You click the links and download will take up 100% of your download... It really is that fast.

    Dropbox is a file syncing tool. Usually used by developers to share assets between remote computers.

    So to say you dont use rapidshare because you like dropbox, is like me saying, i dont like cars because i like fruit.

    link to this | view in chronology ]


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