Professional Publishing Report Newsletter

A German court this month ruled in favor of six international publishing companies in their battle to combat digital piracy.

The Landgericht Regional Court of Hamburg, Germany ruled that the file sharing site Rapidshare must implement measures to prevent illegal file sharing of the 148 copyright-protected works that were cited in the lawsuit. The court ruled that Rapidshare, one of the largest filing share sites of printed works, must monitor its site to ensure that copyrighted material is not uploaded and prevent unauthorized access to the material. Failure to comply will result in substantial penalties, according to the court.

Although the decision directly affects only 148 titles, publishers hope that the speed in which the German court ruled—six days—will persuade Rapidshare to abide by copyright laws.

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