119 lines
6.6 KiB
Markdown
119 lines
6.6 KiB
Markdown
October 23, 2020
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GitHub
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Dear Sir or Madam:
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I am contacting you on behalf of the Recording Industry Association of America, Inc. (RIAA) and
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its member record companies. The RIAA is a trade association whose member companies
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create, manufacture or distribute sound recordings representing approximately eighty-five (85)
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percent of all legitimate recorded music consumption in the United States. Under penalty of
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perjury, we submit that the RIAA is authorized to act on behalf of its member companies on
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matters involving the infringement of their sound recordings, audiovisual works and images,
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including enforcing their copyrights and common law rights on the Internet.
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Copyright Violations. We have learned that your service is hosting the youtube-dl source code
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on its network at the following locations, among others:
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https://github.com/ytdl-org/youtube-dl
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https://github.com/ytdl-org/youtube-dl/tree/gh-pages
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http://ytdl-org.github.io/youtube-dl/
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https://github.com/benkeung/youtube-dl
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https://github.com/cyberjacob/youtube-dl
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https://github.com/elaopinska/youtube-dl
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[private]
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https://github.com/huangciyin/youtube-dl
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https://github.com/jckelley/youtube-dl
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https://github.com/LouisPlisso/youtube-dl
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https://github.com/ojauch/youtube-dl
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https://github.com/rbrito/youtube-dl
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https://github.com/successLee/youtube-dl
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https://github.com/trammel/youtube-dl
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https://github.com/vs9390/youtube-dl
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https://github.com/zackfern/youtube-dl
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https://github.com/tosuch/youtube-dl
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https://github.com/pornophage/youtube-dl
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https://github.com/tejaskhot/youtube-dl
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https://github.com/VideoUtils/youtube-dl
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https://github.com/798221028/youtube-dl
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The above list includes a representative sample of the youtube-dl forks of the youtube-dl
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source code being hosted on GitHub. Based on our review of the representative sample noted
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above, we have a good faith belief that most of the youtube-dl forks are infringing to the same
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extent as the parent repository.
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The clear purpose of this source code is to (i) circumvent the technological protection measures
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used by authorized streaming services such as YouTube, and (ii) reproduce and distribute music
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videos and sound recordings owned by our member companies without authorization for such
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use. We note that the source code is described on GitHub as “a command-line program to
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download videos from YouTube.com and a few more sites.”1
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We also note that the source
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code prominently includes as sample uses of the source code the downloading of copies of our
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members’ copyrighted sound recordings and music videos, as noted in Exhibit A hereto. For
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example, as shown on Exhibit A, the source code expressly suggests its use to copy and/or
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distribute the following copyrighted works owned by our member companies:
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• Icona Pop – I Love It (feat. Charli XCX) [Official Video], owned by Warner Music Group
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• Justin Timberlake – Tunnel Vision (Explicit), owned by Sony Music Group
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• Taylor Swift – Shake it Off, owned/exclusively licensed by Universal Music Group
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The source code notes that the Icona Pop work identified above is under the YouTube Standard
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license, which expressly restricts access to copyrighted works only for streaming on YouTube
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and prohibits their further reproduction or distribution without consent of the copyright owner;
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that the Justin Timberlake work identified above is under an additional age protection
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identifier; and that the request for the Taylor Swift work identified above is to obtain, without
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authorization of the copyright owner or YouTube, an M4A audio file from the audiovisual work
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in question.
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We have a good faith belief that this activity is not authorized by the copyright owner, its agent,
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or the law. We assert that the information in this notification is accurate, based upon the data
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available to us.
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Anticircumvention Violation. We also note that the provision or trafficking of the source code
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violates 17 USC §§1201(a)(2) and 1201(b)(1). The source code is a technology primarily
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designed or produced for the purpose of, and marketed for, circumventing a technological
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measure that effectively controls access to copyrighted sound recordings on YouTube, including
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copyrighted sound recordings owned by our members. For further context, please see the
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attached court decision from the Hamburg Regional Court that describes the technological
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measure at issue (known as YouTube’s “rolling cipher”), and the court’s determination that the
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technology employed by YouTube is an effective technical measure within the meaning of EU
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1
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See https://github.com/ytdl-org/youtube-dl/blob/master/README.md#readme.
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and German law, which is materially identical to Title 17 U.S.C. §1201 of the United States
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Code. The court further determined that the service at issue in that case unlawfully
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circumvented YouTube’s rolling cipher technical protection measure.2
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The youtube-dl source code functions in a manner essentially identical to the service at issue in
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the Hamburg Regional Court decision. As there, the youtube-dl source code available on
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Github (which is the subject of this notice) circumvents YouTube’s rolling cipher to gain
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unauthorized access to copyrighted audio files, in violation of YouTube’s express terms of
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service,3 and in plain violation of Section 1201 of the Digital Millennium Copyright Act, 17 U.S.C.
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§1201.
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Indeed, the comments in the youtube-dl source code make clear that the source code was
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designed and is marketed for the purpose of circumventing YouTube’s technological measures
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to enable unauthorized access to our member’s copyrighted works, and to make unauthorized
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copies and distributions thereof: they identify our member’s works, they note that the works
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are VEVO videos (virtually all of which are owned by our member companies), they
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acknowledge the those works are licensed to YouTube under the YouTube standard license, and
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they use those examples in the source code to describe how to obtain unauthorized access to
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copies of our members’ works.
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In light of the above noted copyright infringements and anticircumvention violations, we ask
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that you immediately take down and disable access to the youtube-dl source code at all of its
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locations where it is hosted on GitHub, including without limitation those locations in the
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representative list set forth above.
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This e-mail does not constitute a waiver of any right to recover damages incurred by virtue of
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any such unauthorized activities, and all such rights as well as claims for other relief are
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expressly reserved.
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You may contact me at RIAA, [private] Tel. [private],
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or email [private] to discuss this notice.
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Sincerely,
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[private]
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[private]
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