The owner of popular U.S.-based stream-ripping site Yout.com has been found guilty of massive copyright infringement by a criminal court in Brazil. Last week, the court sentenced American citizen Johnathan Nader to a prison term of three years and four months, which is substituted by a financial penalty. The verdict is a landmark victory for the major record labels and is believed to be the first criminal conviction against a dedicated YouTube-ripping service.
YouTube downloaders and other nifty tools are seen as a major piracy threat by the music industry.
To curb this trend, music companies have taken legal action against various stream-ripping services. This includes Yout.com, which is operated by the American developer Johnathan Nader.
Nader is not easily defeated, however. In 2020 he took the RIAA to court in an attempt to have the site declared legal.
Criminal Conviction
The RIAA case is still under appeal, but meanwhile, Nader faced more immediate threats. In 2021, Yout’s owner learned that the Public Prosecutor’s Office of São Paulo, Brazil, had filed a criminal complaint against him.
In 2022, the prosecution offered Yout.com a way out in the form of a deal. In exchange for reaching an agreement on several predetermined terms, the public prosecutor was willing to suspend the criminal prosecution. This would come at a cost, however.
Under the proposed terms, Yout’s operator would have to pay the authorities 1.9 million Brazilian reals, roughly $400,000, which Nader rejected.
Without a deal, the defense tried to get the case dismissed outright. Yout’s attorneys argued, among other things, that the site functions like an Internet DVR; it doesn’t store any infringing material and has sufficient legal uses.
However, the court eventually concluded that the requirements for criminal prosecution had been met, and allowed the prosecution to go ahead.
Yout Operator Found Guilty
In a detailed 21-page ruling issued last Friday, Judge Eva Lobo Chaib Dias Jorge of the 12th Criminal Court of São Paulo, found Yout’s Johnathan Nader guilty of large-scale copyright infringement. The court dismissed the defense’s arguments, concluding that the stream-ripper is a dedicated piracy tool.
The finding was based on technical evidence provided by the court-appointed expert, Ricardo Andrian Capozzi, who concluded that Yout wasn’t merely a “neutral” recording tool. Instead, Yout is specifically created to bypass the security measures implemented by sites like YouTube.
The Judge was not swayed by the defense’s argument that Yout.com can be used in plenty of “fair use” situations too.
“Ultimately, it is evident that the service operated by the defendant directly contravenes the constitutional protection of copyright, misappropriating the works of others and causing both financial and moral harm to the legitimate rights holders. For this reason, holding the defendant accountable is not only legitimate but necessary for the preservation of the legal order and the integrity of the cultural market itself,” the verdict reads (translated).
“Given the evidence contained in the records, it is understood that there is substantial proof of a violation of the Copyright Law (Law No. 9,610/1998), and the service offered by Yout.com constitutes an illegal practice, directly infringing upon copyrights.”
Substituted Prison Sentence
The court determined that, with millions of Brazilian visits to Yout.com, copyright infringement was committed millions of times. As the responsible party, Nader was technically sentenced to a prison term of three years and four months, but for now his immediate future won’t be inside a Brazilian cell.
Because Nader is a first-time offender, the judge substituted the prison term with two “alternative” restrictive penalties under Article 44 of the Penal Code. Instead of serving a prison sentence, Nader is required to pay a total of 200 monthly minimum wages to a Public Security Incentive Fund (FISP).
The verdict doesn’t mention what the applied daily minimum wage rate is. Online searches suggest that the 2025 monthly minimum in Brazil is R$1,518.00, which would put the total penalty at R$303,600 (~USD$55,000). We want to stress, however, the verdict doesn’t list any amount.
The prison sentence is not completely off the radar either, as a failure to pay the fine or comply with the court’s conditions could eventually bring it back into play.
Brazil’s Jurisdiction over a U.S. Operation
One of the most significant aspects of the ruling is the judge’s rejection of Nader’s jurisdictional defense. Nader argued that, as a Connecticut-based operator of a U.S. company, he should not be subject to Brazilian criminal law.
The judge ruled that, since the site was visited millions of times by Brazilians, the stream-ripper has a real impact within national borders. As a result, the court concluded that Brazilian law applies regardless of where Yout.com’s servers or its developer are located.
“The fact that the defendant’s conduct was not considered punishable in its country of origin in no way undermines its illegality when the results are reflected in our National Territory,” the verdict reads.
The ruling comes as a significant setback for Yout.com’s operator, who is expected to appeal the verdict. Yout.com, meanwhile, remains blocked by Brazilian Internet providers.
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A copy of the verdict, issued by Judge Eva Lobo Chaib Dias Jorge of the 12th Criminal Court of São Paulo, is available in Portuguese here.
Source: 
TorrentFreak.com
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