In what is described as a “groundbreaking” ruling, the District Court of Aachen in Germany has convicted the operator of illicit cyberlocker Share-Online to a two-year suspended prison term – sending a message that those who operate cyberlockers to facilitate digital piracy can and will be held criminally accountable for fueling online piracy. This action was supported by antipiracy coalition the Alliance for Creativity and Entertainment (ACE).

The Share-Online conviction was made possible by the extensive and sustained work of Gregory Skavron, the prosecutor at the Zentral- und Ansprechstelle Cybercrime Nordrhein-Westfalen (ZAC NRW) and close cross-border cooperation with law enforcement authorities in the Netherlands. Their action in October 2019 led to the immediate shutdown of the platform and the permanent removal of nearly 20 million infringing files from the Internet.

“We commend the outstanding work of ZAC NRW, whose expertise and commitment were instrumental to the success of this case. This verdict demonstrates that collaboration between rights holders and law enforcement is critical to dismantling large-scale piracy and protecting creators,” said Larissa Knapp, Executive Vice President and Chief Content Protection Officer for the MPA.

Share-Online was one of the largest cyberlockers in the German-speaking market, generating more than €50 million in revenue between 2008 and 2019 and enabling illegal infringement on a massive scale.

“This ruling makes clear that operators of ostensibly neutral platforms cannot rely on liability privileges or professed ignorance. For a platform like Share-Online, it is not sufficient to merely acknowledge abuse notifications from rights holders. Anyone whose business model promotes or supports copyright-infringing acts is not only liable for injunctive relief and damages but also commits a criminal offense,” said Geerart Bourlon, Vice President of Global Content Protection Legal for the MPA.

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Categories: Articles, Business, Content, OTT, OTT, Piracy, Policy, Regulation, Rights

Tags: ACE, Alliance for Creativity and Entertainment, Cyberlocker, Share-Online