Los Angeles
– RapidShare, the free file-hosting service that has become a target for
copyright infringement actions by the entertainment industry, has begun sending
cease-and-desist notices to search engine sites indexing its content,
TorrentFreak reported.
The company is asking sites including Rapidshare.net,
Rapid.org and Rapidshare4movies.com to stop using the Rapidshare trademark to
promote copyright infringement.
It is also alleging unfair competition, and
seeking to have these domains turned over to the company.
In recent months, the
company was ordered by German courts to proactively filter copyrighted
materials, while authorities in Poland
raided the operators of a Rapidshare link forum.
"We find it amazing,
considering the amount of traffic and inevitably premium memberships we drive
towards Rapidshare, that they target us in such an aggressive manner and turn
on their own customers," the founder of Rapid.org told TorrentFreak.
"We will not comply with ludicrous threats, such as to hand over the
domain, and we will continue building our already large community. If at any
point it becomes necessary for us to support alternative filehosts and/or
create our own, we are capable and willing to do just that."
Related Links:
http://snipurl.com/vszzc
(TorrentFreak)
http://snipurl.com/vt0bq
(DMW previous coverage)
http://snipurl.com/vt0c0
(DMW previous coverage)
