Major labels suing a YouTube ripping site
Major labels have grouped together to file a lawsuit against a website that allows ripping off of YouTube.
According to the BBC news, Universal, Sony, Capitol Records, Atlantic, Warner Bros and others have taken legal action against the owner of a German based site known as YouTube-mp3.org in a federal court in Los Angeles.
The major labels claim that… “tens, or even hundreds of millions of tracks are illegally copied and distributed by stream-ripping services each month” and that YouTube-mp3.org is the “chief offender.”
YouTube-mp3.org is the biggest stream ripping website in the world. The site boasts more than sixty million unique monthly users from all over the planet.
It is alleged that more than forty percent of the music ripped from YouTube is done so using this ripping service. The major labels are asking for $150 000 for each alleged instance of music piracy.
Breaking da law!!!
The lawsuit states that three hundred songs have reportedly been converted from video to mp3, and then downloaded by users of the site.
The RIAA (Recording Industry Association of America), IFPI (International Federation of the Phonographic Industry), and the BPI (British Phonographic Industry) are requesting a court order that would ban web hosts, advertisers and other third parties from facilitating access to youtube-mp3.org.
The International Federation of the Phonographic Industry yesterday made a statement saying the following…
“Stream ripping has become a major threat to the music industry, functioning as an unlawful substitute for the purchase of recorded music and the purchase of subscriptions to authorised streaming services.”
The YouTube-mp3.org website states that they are… “different from other services, because the whole conversion process will be performed by our infrastructure, and you only have to download the audio file from our servers.”
This lawsuit is another move by the music industry to help combat the growing and evolving world of illegal downloads.
Sourced
