The Federal Court of Justice published the reasoning of its judgement BGH I ZR 18/11. A file hosting service does not have to proactively search for infringing copyright data files, if the service itself is not created to provoke copyright infringements. File hosting services don´t check the files in advance, do no information regarding copyright infringements, therefore the hosting services don´t not qualify for primary liability. Upon notice of the infringement, the hosting services are required to take down and prevent further downloads by third parties. If they fail, they may be liable under the aspect of secondary liability. The Court has specified the duties of a file hosting service upon notice. For further information please contact Christlieb Klages.

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