A site that converts YouTube videos to MP3 files is suing its competitors for bogus DMCA requests. The site in question is itself the subject of legitimate requests from record companies and labels.
Despite the explosion of streaming and legal downloading of music, some still indulge in piracy. The means are numerous and among them are the stream ripping sites. You may not have heard of this name, but you surely know the principle. Those are sites that convert YouTube videos to MP3 files. With the millions of clips present on the platform, it is easy to understand the interest.
Stream ripping is not a marginal practice, far from it. This year, one of these sites recorded more than a billion visits. They all benefit from a legal vagueness. Converting a YouTube video to MP3 is not illegal per se. On the other hand, using such a service to recover a work protected by copyright, yes. In the facts, many record companies and labels regularly issue DMCA requests (law against copyright infringement) from Google. The goal is to remove them from search results.
Stream ripping site accuses competitors of bogus DMCA requests
Strangely, it’s not these requests that worry CreativeCode Ltdthe parent company of YtMp3 and Y2Mate, two of the best-known stream rippers. She accuses her competitors of sending fake DMCA requests to Google in an attempt to shut them down. Indeed, when we look at some of these requests, we can see that they do not come from the rights holders of a piece of music, but from other similar sites. A kind of unfair competition for which the company seeks $500,000 in damages.
Read also – Illegal downloading: Google blocks pirate sites in an unprecedented way
Surely taking advantage of the opportunity, society is also asking that stream ripping sites are no longer considered tools to circumvent the DMCA. She goes even further and accuses other stream ripping sites of violating copyright law. In other words, to allow what its own sites also allow. Ironic.
Source: TorrentFreak