The world’s biggest Youtube-to-mp3 ripping site, Youtube-mp3.org, has been shut down as the result of a multi-million dollar lawsuit between major labels and site owner Philip Matesanz’s company PMD Technologie UG.
The world’s largest Youtube ripping site, Youtube-mp3.org, has been shut down by major labels following a landmark multi-million dollar lawsuit.
Last year major labels UMG, Sony Music, Capitol Records, Atlantic and Warner Bros. took out a landmark lawsuit $57 million lawsuit against the German operator of the ripping site in a federal court in LA.
According to an initial report by the BBC, the record labels claimed 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 allegedly responsible for more than 40% of all music ripped from YouTube, note The Verge.
The lawsuit specifically names over 300 songs owned by the labels that were illegally ripped using the service, including Zedd’s Clarity, Lady Gaga’s Born This Way, and Missy Elliott’s Get Ur Freak On.
The labels sought damages of $150,000 for each instance of proven copyright infringement, arguing that “YouTube-MP3.org enabled illegal distribution and profited off label-owned content by collecting ad revenue from redirecting people to its site.”
The site is currently not working.
The final judgment has yet to be handed down, but according to legal documents, Matesanz will soon be banned from “knowingly designing, developing, offering, or operating any technology or service that allows or facilitates the practice commonly known as stream-ripping.”
The Verge also note that if the judgement is signed, it would result in a transfer the domain name to a representative for the labels.
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