As of June 29, 2010, RapidShare is changing its product and payment models. In future, the costs for RapidShare accounts will no longer be tiered according to time period; instead there will be five packages with differing features. These packages will be paid for with a new currency known as "Rapids". In order to grant our customers maximum flexibility when choosing the type of package, they will be able to switch between packages on a daily basis and hence select the features that suit them best at the time.
All previous Collector's accounts will be automatically converted into free Premium accounts on July 1, 2010, thus making it still possible to use the RapidShare service without charge.
What is actually changing: pricing model
RapidShare is launching a new currency: Rapids. This will allow users to take up various packages from June 29, 2010.
Rapids can be acquired in the following increments:
| Prepaid funds | |
| 400 Rapids | € 4,99 |
| 1.000 Rapids | € 9,95 |
| 2.000 Rapids | € 19,90 |
| 5.000 Rapids | € 49,75 |
| 20.000 Rapids | € 199,00 |
Many users will already have Rapids in their accounts from the start as both the remaining days in existing Premium accounts and unused traffic share will be converted automatically into Rapids. For each remaining day, the user will be credited with 20 Rapids. For example, if there are 10 days left in a Premium account, the user will receive 200 Rapids. Each GB of traffic share will be converted into 5 Rapids.
Any accumulated Free- and Premium-RapidPoints can also be converted into Rapids until July 6, 2010. Altogether, 5,000 Free-RapidPoints and 5,000 Premium-RapidPoints equate to 600 Rapids; 50,000 Free-RapidPoints and 50,000 Premium-RapidPoints will give 6,000 Rapids.
A maximum of 50,000 Rapids can be obtained by converting existing RapidPoints, traffic share or the remaining time on a Premium account.
What is actually changing: product model
These modifications will not change anything for Free Users. Owners of previous Collector's accounts will receive free Premium accounts, enabling them to manage their uploaded files in the Premium Zone. Downloading and storing are just the same as for the previous Collector's account.
Users who have Rapids can choose from five types of fee-paying package. What is special about these packages is that every user can turn the features off and on to suit their needs from day to day. In this way, we hope to offer our customers an even better service and, above all, much more flexibility than before.
Overview of fee-paying packages:
| Name | Price / day | Storage | Traffic / day | Filemanagement | Directdownload | Foldermanagement | Verification | Licence Manager | Licence Manager+ |
| RapidSmall | 4 Rapids | 10 GB | 1 GB | x | x | ||||
| RapidMedium | 20 Rapids | 50 GB | 5 GB | x | x | x | |||
| RapidBig | 78 Rapids | 200 GB | 20 GB | x | x | x | x | ||
| RapidSupersize | 229 Rapids | 600 GB | 60 GB | x | x | x | x | x | |
| RapidBusiness | 449 Rapids | 1200 GB | 120 GB | x | x | x | x | x | x |
- RapidSmall For the RapidSmall package, users pay 4 Rapids a day. This gives them 10 GB of secured storage and a daily traffic volume of 1 GB. What's more, they can take advantage of file management and direct download features.
- RapidMedium Those who opt for the RapidMedium deal get, in exchange for 20 Rapids a day, 50 GB of secured storage and a daily traffic volume of 5 GB. In addition to file management and direct downloads, users will be able to manage their data in folders.
- RapidBig Holders of RapidBig accounts have access to 200 GB of secured storage and a traffic limit of 20 GB. Along with other RapidMedium features, in this version users will also be able to have their account verified. The RapidBig package costs 78 Rapids a day.
- RapidSupersize With the RapidSupersize account, users receive 600 GB of secured storage and 60 GB of daily traffic in return for 229 Rapids a day. As an added feature, users will have the ability to sell their own files via the Licence Manager.
- RapidBusiness With RapidBusiness, commercial customers benefit from being able to store and grant others access to even greater quantities of data for 449 Rapids a day. In addition to the features of the RapidSupersize deal, customers will have access to Licence Manager+.
Plus, business customers can receive targeted offers on request.
If users load their account with Rapids through payment or by converting RapidPoints, Traffic or remaining time, they will be set up with the smallest package (RapidSmall), with the option to upgrade at any time.
All features of the new model will be explained in further detail on June 29, 2010 on rapidshare.com.
Reward programme: RapidPoints and RapidDonations to be discontinued
June 18, 2010
As of July 1, 2010 RapidShare's RapidPoints programme will be discontinued. This decision by the company is a reaction to claims that the reward programme rewards the uploading of contents that are protected by copyright.
We feel it is necessary to undertake this step as we do not wish RapidShare's users to be exposed to such an unjustified general suspicion. Our primary objective remains to provide users with a fast, secure and reliable service.
What will the changes mean for our users?
First, nobody will lose any points that have already been accumulated. You can redeem them until July 6, 2010. Please also note that within the next days we will offer you an opportunity to convert a Collector's account into a free Premium account and to transfer your points into this Premium account.
Unfortunately, we must also give up the RapidDonation scheme. An amount of 10,000 Euros was collected for each and every organisation and project that was introduced. We would like to take this opportunity to thank all the donors for their contributions!
We are currently exploring how we can continue the donation programme in the future.
The company will continue to donate to charities, but not as part of an incentive program. Clearly, we would like to continue rewarding customers who recruit new clients. As soon as we have developed a new reward programme, we will of course contact you immediately to provide more details.
Premium accounts will continue to exist after the subscription period has expired
May 25, 2010
With immediate effect, premium accounts whose paid subscription period has expired will no longer be automatically deleted. We now offer our customers the option to switch the paid features on and off as and when they need them without having to create a new account each time, as was previously the case. Naturally, costs only fall due when paid modules are booked. Otherwise the account will continue to be free.
RapidShare wins important copyright victory in the United States
May 20, 2010
RapidShare AG has won an important victory in a copyright lawsuit against it in the United States. The case is Perfect 10, Inc. v. RapidShare AG, in the United States District Court for the Southern District of California (San Diego).
Perfect 10 is an adult entertainment company and a very experienced copyright plaintiff, which has brought many lawsuits against a variety of companies including VISA, MasterCard, CCBill, Google, Amazon.com, and Microsoft. Perfect 10 remains in a long-running battle with Google, Inc., over Google's search engine and other services.
Perfect 10 sought a preliminary injunction in the US to prevent RapidShare from hosting images that Perfect 10 alleges to violate Perfect 10's copyrights. Perfect 10 sought to discredit RapidShare and its business model.
On May 18, 2010, the court refused to grant a preliminary injunction, denying Perfect 10's request. The court ruled that Perfect 10 had not shown that it was likely to win any of its claims against RapidShare for copyright infringement or unfair competition. The court noted that Perfect 10 showed a lack of interest in self-help measures. Other than through its lawsuit, Perfect 10 had not identified any download links to RapidShare that would have enabled RapidShare's Abuse Department to disable access to the allegedly infringing files. The Court urged Perfect 10 to work with RapidShare to provide proper notices that would enable RapidShare's Abuse Department to address Perfect 10's concerns.
Christian Schmid, founder of RapidShare AG, said that "it is gratifying that the court rejected Perfect 10's motion and recognized that RapidShare does not promote copyright infringement. It is an achievement for us that this is also happening in the U.S. We look forward to increasingly emphasizing the major difference between RapidShare and other companies. RapidShare offers a valuable platform for cloud computing, does not promote unlawful activity on its website, and provides copyright holders rapid service in addressing proper claims of infringement relating to RapidShare users."
The company's Abuse Department has one of the fastest records for responding to take down requests submitted by copyright owners, uses a hash filter to block uploads of files identified as unauthorized, and has a policy of terminating repeat infringers in appropriate circumstances. In addition, RapidShare has taken legal action against third party sites that publish links to unauthorized material. More information on RapidShare's Conditions of Use is at http://rapidshare.com/abuse.html.
Court: RapidShare AG not liable for user uploads
File hosting company wins appeals procedure (Oberlandesgericht Düsseldorf)
May 03, 2010
Cham, May 3, 2010. RapidShare AG has won its appeal against Capelight Pictures in the Court of Appeals Düsseldorf, Germany (Oberlandesgericht Düsseldorf). Prior to this, plaintiff had obtained a preliminary injunction against RapidShare at Düsseldorf's district court (Landgericht Düsseldorf), by which the file hosting company was enjoined from hosting certain movies its clients had uploaded. This judgment has now been reversed by the Appellate Court.
Christian Schmid, founder of RapidShare: "We are very happy about the judgment. The court has confirmed that RapidShare is not responsible for the contents of files uploaded by its users. The judgment shows that attempts to denounce our business model as illegal will not be successful in the long run. With its 1-click-filehosting model, RapidShare responds to legitimate interests of its users and will continue to do so in the future."
RapidDonations enters the next phase
April 26, 2010
Our project "RapidDonations" has now been online for a little bit more than one month, and thus the first collecting phase is complete. We are glad that the donations have reached the goal of 10'000 Euros for all three organizations.
"SOS Children's Villages" was first to reach the goal and will therefore stay online for the next collecting phase. Additionally, you can now support Caritas and Amnesty International with your RapidPoints.
The donations collected in the first phase will be transferred during the next few days.
RapidShare AG parts from CEO Bobby Chang
April 20, 2010
With immediate effect and by mutual agreement, RapidShare AG has parted from former CEO Bobby Chang. Christian Schmid, the inventor and founder, states: "We will continue RapidShare's success story, faster and more consistently. We believe we can better achieve this goal with different leadership - for the benefit of our customers, partners and users."
With the customers in mind, further information as to how RapidShare AG is going to improve the offer as the first One-Click-Webhoster worldwide will be announced within the coming weeks. For the time being, Christian Schmid is the contact person for business management.
Phishing attack on RapidShare customers
April 12, 2010
Unknown persons are currently sending thousands of e-mails which ask the recipients to update their RapidShare accounts' billing information.
The sender address of those e-mails is fake. The messages do not come from RapidShare, and the link contained in the message leads to a fake website. Please do not enter your account data on that page. If you already did, or if you have any questions regarding this topic, please contact our customer support.
Happy Easter!
April 1, 2010
Good news for Free users: RapidShare has decided to raise the maximum download speed for Free users to 10 Mbit/s during the Easter holidays. Of course our Premium users are still given preferential treatment though, so the speed for Free users might be lower than 10 mbit when there is not enough bandwidth available. We wish a happy Easter to everyone!
False reports confuse RapidShare customers
March 29, 2010
During the last couple of days some e-mails created confusion, imputing illegal activities to the recipients and stating that RapidShare was collecting data against the Privacy Policy for legal purposes. The e-mails also advised the users to seek legal council. These emails are faked and did not originate from us. If you have received such a message, please contact our support, because your Premium Account might have been "phished". The fake e-mails are sent to keep you from contacting us.
In fact, nothing has changed at RapidShare over the last days. We are still not collecting any information about which user downloads which files. We are still successfully fighting in court against requests to open or scan our customers' files, be it by our staff or by use of content recognition technologies. We are still defending data privacy rights on the internet.
Of course, you still have to comply with our terms and conditions. If content owners bring to our attention that some of our customers have obviously distributed pirated copies of their content repeatedly or at a large scale, we reserve the right to close these accounts without previous notice.
RapidDonations: Do good with RapidPoints
March 12, 2010
Have you ever wished for a possibility of donating to an aid project with just one click? We are happy to present our new project "RapidDonations". In a matter of seconds, you can give some of your RapidPoints to a charitable organization, and RapidShare will turn them into a valuable monetary donation. For more details please visit our donation page.
Upgrade: Enjoy RapidShare with 600 Gbits/s now
March 01, 2010
The upgrade that was announced on February 1st has been successfully implemented, and all the work has been completed. Thus the capacity problems have been resolved.
Of course, we will keep an eye on our systems and upgrade them again whenever necessary.
We are happy to see that more and more customers choose RapidShare and popularize our service worldwide. Thank you for your loyalty!
T-shirt Contest: The voting has started
März 01, 2010
Vote here to take part in choosing the design of this year's limited edition RapidShare T-shirt!
RapidSponsoring
February 05, 2010
You are using RapidShare to show the world your ideas, projects, movies, music, graphics, photos or books? Let us know about it! Because if we like your project, we'll sponsor it with a one year premium account plus TrafficShare. For more information click here.
Announcing the next RapidShare upgrade
February 01, 2010
A lot of our users have noticed that up till now, our system was working on maximum load. We are happy to say that the capacity issues will soon be resolved. Early March, we will start up twelve new 10-gigabit ports, and at the same time add 200 new servers to our system. This upgrade will give more download power to Free Users. Premium Users will get even higher download speeds. We continue to make sure that we offer you the best platform for filehosting in the world.
Referrer Program discontinued
January 29, 2010
Due to a lack of international response we have decided to end the testing phase of our Referrer Program and to discontinue the program. We would like to thank all of the users who participated in the test. At this point we would like to call your attention to our continuing Rewards Program which allows you to exchange your RapidPoints for attractive rewards.
RapidShare T-shirt Contest 2010
January 22, 2010
Would you like to show your artistic skills to RapidShare users around the world?
Take the opportunity and design this year's limited edition RapidShare T-shirt!
All information can be found on our contest page.
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