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The RIAA forced me to shut down a successful website/apps I built in high school
31–40 of 138 posts
Re: The RIAA forced me to shut down a successful website/apps I built in high school
#32IANAL. First of all a cease and desist doesn't require you to do anything. It's merely a threat. That said it seems pretty clear that you're violating copyright laws. The DMCA only applies to user generated content (UGC). You're not letting users input their own links to 3rd party content, you're finding the links yourself. It doesn't matter where you get them from. Not only that but you're not linking to this conten…
So then if Google happens to index and show a link to 3rd party content, it's also finding the links itself, and is similarly liable?
Re: The RIAA forced me to shut down a successful website/apps I built in high school
#33If HypedMusic had offered to provide a mechanism to remove the "infringing" links wouldn't HypedMusic have been in compliance with Safe Harbor?
Re: The RIAA forced me to shut down a successful website/apps I built in high school
#34Earlier quoted context omitted.
It's not at all clear that he's violating any laws. There is no infringement in providing access in a good-faith belief that the content is legit. And it's a fair assumption that the people actually publishing the music files on their websites wouldn't be doing so without authorization from the rights holders. Further, downloading in general (as opposed to publishing) is expressly legal in some countries (e.g., repor…
There's no such thing as "legit content". Licensing is not a characteristic of the content, it's a relationship between the content and the person distributing it. So give a crude example, the content on Netflix is "legit", in the sense that they have the right to distribute it, but that doesn't make it legal for you to record and retransmit the same content. If you don't know if you can distribute it, you should ass…
> If you don't know if you can distribute it, you should assume you can't
That's 100% wrong. The default state of a work of art is to be in the public domain. Copyright law creates only a limited exception to that general rule.
Re: The RIAA forced me to shut down a successful website/apps I built in high school
#35Earlier quoted context omitted.
There's no such thing as "legit content". Licensing is not a characteristic of the content, it's a relationship between the content and the person distributing it. So give a crude example, the content on Netflix is "legit", in the sense that they have the right to distribute it, but that doesn't make it legal for you to record and retransmit the same content. If you don't know if you can distribute it, you should ass…
He doesn't distribute it though, only links to it. I am pretty sure I am allowed to link to netflix even though I don't have distribution rights for the content hosted there.
Beemp3 provides just links. HyperMusic (from the screenshots) actually played them on the app itself. Maybe it downloaded them locally, but that's an irrelevant technical detail.
Re: The RIAA forced me to shut down a successful website/apps I built in high school
#36IANAL. First of all a cease and desist doesn't require you to do anything. It's merely a threat. That said it seems pretty clear that you're violating copyright laws. The DMCA only applies to user generated content (UGC). You're not letting users input their own links to 3rd party content, you're finding the links yourself. It doesn't matter where you get them from. Not only that but you're not linking to this conten…
So then if Google happens to index and show a link to 3rd party content, it's also finding the links itself, and is similarly liable?
Yes but Google has plenty of money so it is ok.
Re: The RIAA forced me to shut down a successful website/apps I built in high school
#37IANAL. First of all a cease and desist doesn't require you to do anything. It's merely a threat. That said it seems pretty clear that you're violating copyright laws. The DMCA only applies to user generated content (UGC). You're not letting users input their own links to 3rd party content, you're finding the links yourself. It doesn't matter where you get them from. Not only that but you're not linking to this conten…
It's not at all clear that he's violating any laws. There is no infringement in providing access in a good-faith belief that the content is legit. And it's a fair assumption that the people actually publishing the music files on their websites wouldn't be doing so without authorization from the rights holders. Further, downloading in general (as opposed to publishing) is expressly legal in some countries (e.g., repor…
From the letter:
The clear purpose and/or design of this application is to encourage, _facilitate_, and/or cause its users to stream and/or download popular sound recordings, the vast majority of which are owned or controlled by RIAA Member companies and are not authorized for distribution in this manner, while at the same time providing you/your company with _certain financial or related benefits_.
This is how a lot of Dutch sharing websites were closed: Facilitating copyright infringement with monetary gain. They got TV links (a site very similar to OP's site, only crawling for and posting links and embeds) for trademark infringement. Later on some Dutch ISP's were forced to block The Pirate Bay, because by allowing access to the site they facilitated copyright infringement(or so the court ruled). A Dutch blog was charged with republishing copyrighted material by placing a link. This later was overturned and became a fine for "facilitating".
Placing some links as facilitating copyright infringement sets a dangerous precedent for net neutrality.
Re: The RIAA forced me to shut down a successful website/apps I built in high school
#38Earlier quoted context omitted.
It's not at all clear that he's violating any laws. There is no infringement in providing access in a good-faith belief that the content is legit. And it's a fair assumption that the people actually publishing the music files on their websites wouldn't be doing so without authorization from the rights holders. Further, downloading in general (as opposed to publishing) is expressly legal in some countries (e.g., repor…
He has to capitulate because he's 18, ignorant of the relevant laws, and likely has no money to be thrown away on litigation. He definitely has shallower pockets than the RIAA. In the civil arena in the U.S., that's an automatic loss. Since operating in good faith is apparently untenable, there is no particular reason for anyone to operate in good faith with respect to the RIAA. Thus copyright piracy proliferates. I'…
He should have made decent revenue with banner ads or interstitials at this point with that large user base. Getting a lawyer to at least look into it would have been an option.
Re: The RIAA forced me to shut down a successful website/apps I built in high school
#39Earlier quoted context omitted.
There's no such thing as "legit content". Licensing is not a characteristic of the content, it's a relationship between the content and the person distributing it. So give a crude example, the content on Netflix is "legit", in the sense that they have the right to distribute it, but that doesn't make it legal for you to record and retransmit the same content. If you don't know if you can distribute it, you should ass…
> If you don't know if you can distribute it, you should assume you can't That's 100% wrong. The default state of a work of art is to be in the public domain. Copyright law creates only a limited exception to that general rule.
That's actually incorrect in the US. The default state of a work of art is that it is copyrighted with ownership granted to the creator, with all rights reserved.
These rights have to be waived for it to become public domain.