A German court recently announced it will shut down the popular online file sharing service Rapidshare if it fails to control the status of users uploading and sharing pirated music.

The Düsseldorf court ruling is considered a major victory by the GEMA Copyright Association and the American Recording Industry Association branch in Germany. The goal of these two companies in the legal battle with Rapidshare is to force the company to be responsible for the content that users have uploaded.

Rapidshare is in danger of being shut down images 1 Meanwhile, Rapidshare still maintains that it does not assume any responsibility for the content that users upload. This is also the reason that content sharing services often offer to justify themselves in copyright-related lawsuits.

However, the court once again tends to stand by the content providers. The Düsseldorf Court forced Rapidshare to take measures to prevent pirated content from appearing on the service page and not force it to prohibit users from uploading such content. If Rapdishare is not done properly, it may be forced to shut down completely.