June 25, 2009 | Online

Rapidshare fined $33.4 million for pirated files

The file hosting service Rapidshare, which allows users to store files (images, documents or videos) and share them with friends, has been fined $33.4 million by a German court for allowing pirated content on its site. The court also ordered Rapidshare to enact a stricter protocol to determine when illegal material is uploaded onto the site.

GEMA, a German royalties collector, initiated the suit arguing that Rapidshare was hosting over 5,000 music tracks, allowing users to download them for free.

"The judgment states that the hosting service itself is now responsible for making sure that none of the music tracks concerned are distributed via its platform in the future," GEMA said in a statement following the ruling. "This means that the copyright holder is no longer required to perform the ongoing and complex checks."

In April, four Swedish men behind popular Pirate Bay were convicted on copyright charges by a Stockholm court. Each man received a year in prison and the company was fined $3.57 million.

Are the courts going after the right people?

Rapidshare Fined $33.4M by German Court []