German Supreme Court Rules File Hosters Must Monitor External Sites to Prevent Copyright Infringement

Judges at Germany’s highest court, the Bundesgerichtshof, ruled on August 16 that cloud provider RapidShare is obliged to delete copyright infringing material on its own servers but also to monitor external websites that have links to material on RapidShare’s website which violates copyright protections, in what was hailed as a “landmark” decision by copyright owners.

“The measures taken by RapidShare until now were considered by the Supreme Court to be insufficient,” said royalties organization GEMA in a statement, where it said it welcomed the ruling.

“The confirmation of the judgment is groundbreaking because it clarifies the responsibility of online storage ...