Yout Can’t ‘Plausibly Plead’ It Doesn’t Violate DMCA, Says RIAA

YouTube’s users can watch and listen to music videos for free on its ad-supported service, but those users don’t get access to the digital files “that contain the record companies’ valuable copyrighted works,” said the Recording Industry Association of America. RIAA filed its answering brief Thursday (docket 22-2760) in Yout’s 2nd Circuit appeal of the district court’s dismissal of its action for a declaratory judgment that its software platform wasn't a circumvention tool under Section 1201 of the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (see 2302030005|).

Yout, “as its name suggests,” enables its users to gain “unauthorized access to the digital music files from YouTube and download copies,” said the RIAA brief. “The purpose of Yout is to bypass YouTube’s technological restrictions on accessing the digital copies of works streamed on YouTube,” it said. Yout’s users “have no need to purchase authorized subscriptions or to frequent ad-supported streaming services,” and Yout “pays nothing to the owners of the copyrighted content that is plundered,” it said.

RIAA members authorize online streaming services, such as YouTube, to stream their copyrighted works, said the brief. “In return, Google shares revenue it earns from advertising or subscriptions with RIAA members and protects their copyrighted sound recordings from unauthorized access and copying,” it said. “These business relationships are the cornerstone of the digital music economy and fuel the creation of new works.”

Yout’s Feb. 2 opening brief in its appeal asserted the case is unique because the recording industry copyright holders didn’t “themselves employ any technological measures” to prevent copying. “The works at issue are made freely available to any person in the world with a connection to the Internet and a web browser,” it said then. “There are no technological measures that effectively prevent the access or copying of the works at issue, with or without the use of Yout’s services.”

Yout’s arguments got strong backing from Microsoft-affiliated GitHub, which said in a Feb. 9 amicus brief the District Court for Connecticut’s erroneous finding that Yout’s software platform was a circumvention tool under the DMCA “threatens the collaborative environment on which technological progress depends” (see 2302100023).

RIAA nevertheless said it was protecting its members when it notified Google that Yout “was providing a stream-ripping service in violation of the anti-circumvention prohibitions” in the DMCA, said RIAA’s answering brief. “Yout responded by filing this lawsuit, asserting implausible claims that its stream-ripping technology is perfectly lawful and that RIAA should pay Yout damages for notifying Google of Yout’s unlawful circumvention,” it said. Yout asserted RIAA’s anti-circumvention DMCA notices were “improper” and they “defamed and disparaged Yout and its software platform.”

The district court’s dismissal of Yout’s claims came in a 46-page opinion “that carefully analyzed Yout’s allegations, applied the statute’s plain text and settled law interpreting it, and correctly concluded that Yout failed to state a claim,” said RIAA’s brief. “The district court’s opinion was correct on all counts,” it said. It was “in line with multiple courts that have found similar stream-ripping technology unlawful,” it said. “The district court’s judgment should be affirmed.”

A “straightforward application” of the DMCA to Yout’s allegations “compels the conclusion” that Yout can’t “plausibly plead” it doesn’t violate the statute, said RIAA’s brief. The DMCA makes it illegal to circumvent a technological measure that effectively controls access to a copyrighted work and to “traffic” in that circumvention technology, it said. The “core questions in this case” are whether YouTube employs a technological measure that effectively controls access to copyrighted works, and if so, whether Yout circumvents it, it said: “The answer to both questions is yes.”

Yout raises a “scattershot” of arguments for reversing the district court’s dismissal, but “none of them succeeds,” said RIAA’s brief. One Yout argument is that discovery is necessary to determine whether YouTube intended its JavaScript-based “signature value mechanism” to be a technological measure prone to circumvention under the DMCA, it said. But YouTube intent “is irrelevant under the statute,” it said.

Yout has already filed three versions of its complaint, said RIAA’s brief. “No amount of discovery or further litigation will change the result,” it said. “The district court’s judgment should be affirmed.”