Popular file-hosting service Uploaded.net has lost its most recent legal battle against German music rights group GEMA. The Regional Court of Munich ruled that Uploaded is liable for content shared by its users, because it failed to implement proactive measures to combat piracy.


With millions of visitors per month, Uploaded is one of the largest file-hosting services on the Internet.

Like many of its ‘cloud hosting’ competitors, the service is also used to share copyright infringing material, which is a thorn in the side of various copyright holder groups.

In Germany this prompted music rights group GEMA, which represents roughly 70,000 artists, to address the matter in court.

This week the Regional Court of Munich ruled that Uploaded must take a more proactive stance when it comes to online piracy. In its current form the site can be held liable for the infringements of its users, which means that it faces damages.

According to the court order, Uploaded is not only obliged to remove infringing files when they are reported. It must also take additional measures, such as preventing the same files from being uploaded again.

This is similar to the “take-down and stay-down” principle copyright holder worldwide are lobbying for.

Overall, the court found that Uploaded’s business model is “risk-inducing” and “dangerous for copyright owners,” highlighting the anonymity of users and the referral program as factors that increase the service’s liability.

Like other file-hosting services, Uploaded allows users to generate revenue by referring new customers to the site.

Source


While Uploaded can be held liable for damages, the court order is not yet legally binding and is likely to be appealed. In any case, a follow-up case is required to establish an exact damages amount.


My condolences to my german friends, the net is closing in on you guys

 

seems to be closing in on everyone lately.... KAT, tpb up and down, torrentz.eu , now a primary hoster...

wonder if rapidgator is next... they seem to be even more flagrant

 

Over Here the netherlands we have Buma\Stemra and brein,

But since YouTube spootify and ITunes Are Here this should not be a problem anymore, well IT actually is. But at least we Have that now

 

UL is slow as hell anyway. I wouldn't miss it.

 

All I can say is I'm happy to see these peices of shit lose money. They've fucked me over 5 times with my premium account in the past 6 months. Accusing me of sharing my account. It's impossible to get IP records from them to prove them wrong. I switched to Rapidgator 3 months ago and couldn't be happier. BTW, I was an UL.to premium customer for more than 9 years. Hope they go broke!!

 

What fucking bullshit. They keep fighting those, Rapidshare, Megaupload...

Files can always be changed just enough to bypass CRC checks, like changing one letter in a text file inside the archive.

 

This situation is par for the course, but they will never win. Fresh starts and alternative methods are always necessary.

 

My condolences to UL - be they shysters or not. There's NO WAY that such a service can continually identify the content uploaded by users, without un-RARing each archive and comparing it to precendents of taken-down files.

Meanwhile The Internet Archive is going stronger than ever. Take a gander at some stuff which any chimp might be able to tell from a block away is most likely copyrighted, not to mention the intellectual property of the MPAA, RIAA or some such syndicate:







- and uploaded under the bogus-legalese butt-covering claim of something which holds water like a seive.

I mean, with download links, in multiple formats, plus torrents, at that.

 

UL is a swiss company, so a German court can rule all day if they like to, it has zero relevance to the business of ul.