Comment from IFPI on the Hamburg Appeal Court's decision to uphold its order against hosting provider of YouTube-DL

25 November 2024 - Press release

“We welcome the decision from the Hamburg Appeal Court dismissing the defendant’s appeal in its entirety and confirming the Regional Court’s decision to issue an injunction requiring the defendant to stop hosting the stream ripping software YouTube-dl and also confirming that the defendant was obliged to pay damages.  The decision is final and The Higher Regional Court of Hamburg has not authorised an appeal.  The software tool has enabled countless stream ripping services to steal music from legitimate, licensed platforms and take revenues away from artists and rightsholders.

“This is a powerful message not only to those operating ripping services that they should cease their illegal activity, but also to online intermediaries providing services to infringers that they cannot continue to benefit from illegal activities without consequences.”