ResearchGate responsible for illegal content on its site, German court rules

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Academic networking site plans to appeal the decision

The popular academic social networking site ResearchGate is appealing a 31 January ruling by a district court in Munich, Germany, which ruled that the site is responsible for scholarly papers infringing copyright that were uploaded to its website. 

In 2017, publishing giant Elsevier and the American Chemical Society (ACS) – both members of the Coalition for Responsible Sharing – sued ResearchGate alleging copyright infringement in 50 research papers uploaded to the site.